


Tanzanite, accidental free will.

by Witheredtears



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 32,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21746647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witheredtears/pseuds/Witheredtears
Summary: a regular Tanzanite, gem's scouts for new planets, crashes and finds herself with no choice but to think for herself. And even more surprising, finds herself enjoying it.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 62





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> author notes: So, not only this is the first time i write an Oc-sona centered fic, but its also my first time *ever* uploading one of my fics online. Please have in mind English isn't my first language, so if you find any typos or misspelling please let me know so i can fix them! if you decide to give my writing a try, i hope you enjoy it!

All things considered, tanzanites were a bit of an oddity when it came to gems.

We are rare, in the sense that there's not many of us around.  
For example, for every one hundred thousand of rubies, there must be around one hundred tanzanites.

But that doesn't make us valuable.

We are as rare as, let's say sapphires, but they are few simple because how many resources it takes to make them.  
We are few, because we aren't a particularly useful gem.  
We can't fight like a quartz, or store items and serve like a pearl, nor do we have any special abilities like lapis lazulis. 

We just know how to flight and maintain ships.

You see, us tanzanites are more like... Scouts, so to speak. Explorers, if you want to make it sound fancy.  
Even with the empire superior radar and stars map technology, turns out the universe is pretty freaking big, so there's a lot of unexplored galaxies.

That's where we tanzanites come in.

We each are given a small shuttle, enough material to perform necessary maintenance, pointed on a random direction, and told to keep flying until we find a planet worth harvesting.  
It wasn't a particularly hard job, and being honest, I'd rather do this that work in an active colony. I even heard rumors of a war brewing in Pink's diamond new colony. No thanks.  
So that's where I am now. Just floating in space, heading into the unknown.

I'm making it sound way more exciting than it is.

\---

Year 27 since i left home-world, encountered first planetoid in pre-programmed route, but the ship's superficial scans already show it as inadequate for harvest, looking out the cockpit I can see why, no signs of organic life whatsoever, nor even water, just rocky unstable terrain, the planet is way too young still. Marking down coordinates for future eras just in case.  
Moving on.

\---

Year 186, second planet in route. Ship's scan show a low probability of usefulness, going to land and research further.

After 5 years of research I have concluded this planet isn't worthy, there's organic life, but it barely covers about seven percent of the surface, most of the terrain is irregular due to constant high velocity winds. Even if the planet were to be harvested, it would produce less resources than those needed to harvest it in the first place.

Constant dust storms seem to have slightly damaged the ship navigation systems, had to spend a couple of months fixing them, but even then the lift off was still a bit shaky, I have to remember to perform a more in depth maintenance when I land on the next planet.

Moving on.

\---

Year 307, another useless planet. Moving on.

\---

Year 413, found what once could have been an useful planet, except the local lifeforms seems to have destroyed it with nuclear warfare. The few ruins I found still standing shows me the damage was done ages ago, but no life has returned to the planet. 

Organics are dumb.

Moving on.

\---

Year 618, this is bad.

Really really bad.

It seems my maintenance of the ship wasn't as acceptable as I thought.

The dust I thought I had gotten rid off seems to have clogged some of the engines, making steering erratic.  
Which wouldn't be too much of a problem if the intense radiation of the previous planet hadn't damaged the altimeter without me realizing it.

I had found a new planet, scans showed it good to harvest even though only 40 percent of it's surface looked full of organic life, I tried to land in the non habituated area of the planet, in case they were organics big enough to damage the ship.   
The land was covered in a thick steam and I did not realize I had gotten so close to the ground. 

I crashed. 

It seems organics had a good reason to not spread towards this area.  
The terrain is highly volcanic, and unstable. I can see the ground cracking open under the ship.

I have to get out of here.

I open the cockpit and crawl out as fast as possible, but the fissures are forming faster.  
The ground opens up, and the ship falls into the earth.  
With a loud splash the ship violently lands into a lake of molten rock. It shakes so badly it almost threw me off.

This is really bad. 

Tanzanites don't have the density to survive falling into lava! Or at least I'm pretty sure we don't! The heat is starting to affect me, which is worrisome. I can feel it on my gem.   
The ship is sinking, the metal giving up and melting alongside the rock.  
I can see a small rocky edge not too far away, but not too close either.  
Why couldn't us tanzanites shape-shift?! I wish I could stretch myself over there.

There's no more time, I barely have any room to move anymore.

Screw it.

I run as fast as I can, and jump.  
It was a pretty poor jump.

My arms barely hold on to the edge. While my lower half is violently submerged into the lava.

The pain is... Honestly I don't really have any previous pain to compare it to, but I'm sure this pain must be pretty high in the "things that hurt" scale.  
I can feel my legs melting. If my gem wasn't in a high point in my shoulder I would had poofed already.   
I use all my strength to crawl over the edge. I think everything under my waist is gone already, but I resist loosing my shape with all I got.  
I have to make sure. I have to make sure my gem lands as away from the edge as possible.

I can't take it anymore.

The pain is too strong, the damage too much.

I dissipate my form hoping my gem makes it to safe ground.

\---


	2. A little change

Losing your form and regaining it feels... Weird.  
I wonder if it feels the same for all gems.

With a start I realize I am reforming.

And with a probably exaggerated gasp I jump to my feet, and just as fast I jump backwards, pressing myself against the wall of rock behind me.  
I was very close to the edge. Very, VERY close. Seems I was lucky after all.  
I have no idea how long it's been, could been days or years for all I know. But I do realize that there's no trace at all of my ship.

Crap.

Another thing I realize is that my arms and legs are no longer yellow.

With a start I try to get a good look at myself. My colors seem to have shifted to a more bluish purple palette. Or perhaps purplish blue.  
Is, is this normal? Do gems bodies change their colors when they reform?

The popping sound of a pretty big lava bubble makes me think this is not the best place to explore my new self.  
I climb towards the surface as best as I can.

So not good at all.

Climbing? Turns out pretty harder than it first looks.  
Took me a couple of days, and more than a couple of slips, but I made it.  
I made it.

Ha! Suck on that lava- oh stars the ground is shaking again I'm getting out of here.  
I ran for a couple of hours maybe, until I completely left the volcanic area behind. Now I'm in some grassy plains, on which I promptly collapse onto.

Okay.  
Okay okay okay.  
Okay.

Report tanzanite, you are good at reports.

The ship is completely gone. With zero chance of retrieval. So is all the materials, equipment and tools I had inside the ship.  
Which of course includes the radio.  
So unless this planet has civilization advanced enough to have discovered long frequency waves and how to utilize them, that leaves...

Zero chance to communicate with homeworld.  
Zero chance to be picked up.  
Zero chance of leaving this planet.

Ever.

Uh, so this is how a panic attack feels like.

Focus. Focus tanzanite stop looking at the big picture, focus on the here and now.  
So, I've changed.

I take a few minutes to explore myself. All of my body has retained the same shape and design, but all the colors are different.  
I approach a nearby body of water to take a better look at myself.

Oh.

It's not just my body.

My gem is a different color as well.

This is definitely not normal.  
Oh stars. I'm an off color. I BECAME an OFF color.  
I didn't even knew that was possible!! I was sure off colors were simple poorly made gems, but turns out you can become one??? 

The half blue half purple shine of my gem looks so... Alien to me.

I don't know what to do.

\---

I spent a week sitting there, in front of the water. Just... Staring.  
I have to get up. To make a plan.  
There was no apparent local civilization from orbit, but there was a chance it was hidden, or maybe even just less obvious. 

Right.

Just had to explore and find it, and use it's primitive tech to contact or even travel to homeworld.

Homeworld.

Where off colors were hunted down and disposed of.  
Off colors like me.

I still don't know what to do.

\---

It took me another week to finally get up. Mostly out of surprise.  
The sky, roared, for lack of a better word, and promptly started to... Cry?  
I think I heard about this sorta climate. It was called... Rain, I think. Apparently it was a pretty rare occurrence. Only about ten percent of planets had them.  
It felt... Weird.

But better than the lava, that's for sure.

Since I was up already, I did what tanzanites do best. I chose a random direction, and started walking.

After a few days of travel, the grassy plains slowly gave way to a forest. Some of the vegetation was massive, trees as tall as White Diamond, with barks of a rich orange color, their branches covered in thin light blue leaves, some so long they almost reached the ground.  
Still no signs of civilization though.  
But I had my first close up encounter with an organic.

It was about twice as long as me but a third as thick, covered in short fur of a hue similar to the trees around it. It was wrapped around the trunk of one of the smaller trees, I could see seven pairs of legs distributed evenly across the length of the body. It's head was elongated as well, no visible eyes and a long thin tongue that keep burrowing into the trunk and pulling out smaller organics, insects I believe, to consume.  
It was disgusting.  
It also turned it's eyeless head towards me and hissed.

I promptly ran away making sure to keep my distance from the tree trunks around me.

\---

It's been about six months since my land (read, crash) on this planet. So far I haven't encountered any sign of intelligent life. No roads, no settlements, no ruins, nothing. Even if it is discouraging, there's still plenty of land to explore.  
I keep finding new types of organic lifeforms, so many different ones I have lost track at this point; but all of them of feral nature. Though I have learned most signs of aggressive behavior, I still try to keep my distance whenever I can.

\---

After five years of exploring this planet I have come to a crucial conclusion.

My body sucks.

There are many large areas of this planet I haven't been able to explore yet, because, putting it simply, I can't reach them.  
Whenever I have to climb or hike any kind of terrain, it takes me days to advance mere meters. My feet are too small and flat. And my fingers are too rounded and smooth and short to properly grab hold of anything.  
I wouldn't feel so bad about it, if those stupid organics wouldn't do it so effortlessly! It takes them minutes, minutes! To progress the same distance that takes me days at least.  
After days of investigating the organics, I have narrowed their climbing skills to not only their clawed extremities, but the shape and reach of their limbs in general.

Again, I really hate I can't shape-shift.

But...

I know for a fact that all gems can slightly change their appearance and shape when they reform.  
Of course, last time I reformed I turned into a stars damned off color.  
But if there's any chance of technology existing in this planet, I cannot leave any area unexplored.

This is going to take some planning.

\---

Okay. this should work.

Hopefully.

I had found a small shallow cave. About twice as big as my ship's cockpit. I made sure to explore it thoroughly to make sure it didn't had any other entrances and that it was sturdy enough.  
This should assure my gem's safety.  
I wanted a way to measure time, knowing an approximate of how long it takes me to reform can only be useful.  
So I took a couple of months to experiment with the local flora.

By that I mean staring at moss for days on end to figure out exactly how fast it grew.

I cleaned out most of the moss in the cave walls, except a small portion. In theory I should be able to tell how much time has passed by checking how much it has spread.  
Approximately at least.  
After that it's just a matter of blocking the entrance.

Okay.  
Okay.

So.  
Now I gotta poof.

Right.

This is going to suck.

I wasn't sure how to go about it, so I just searched for the pointiest rock I could find. I know that in order to loose my form, I have to sustain quite excessive damage. A small wound won't cut it.  
Right.

I hold the rock in front of me. Pointy end aimed towards my chest. And thrusts it as hard as I can.  
I barely poke myself.  
Turns out hurting yourself on purpose is not that easy either.

It takes me quite a couple of tries, more than once the rock falling off my shaky hands.  
Until my frustration surpasses my fear.

I stare at the rock protruding from my chest. It's about halfway inside me.  
It hurts pretty badly.  
But hey, on the bright side, seems I was right about how MELTING ALIVE was a much more painful experience than most.

The damage isn't enough though.  
Before I have time to think too much I rip the rock off and stab myself repeatedly. I poof quite easier than before. It helps that this time I don't fight it at all.

This better be worth it.

\---

So, the first thing I take note of is that the cave has in fact not collapsed or flooded or been infected by organics.  
That's good.

Second thing I notice is that I'm still purple.  
Part of me hoped... It doesn't matter now. Proceeding with the examination.

The moss has grown quite a bit. Following my previous observation, I say it has taken me between thirty and forty days to reform. Interesting, I thought the process was faster.  
I inspect myself.

I'm taller, not significantly so. My torso seems to be shaped slightly different. Not as rigid as before.  
My legs and arms are also slightly longer, and thinner. But the thickness isn't as uniform as it was previously, this should facilitate bending and stretching.  
My feet are just a tad pointier, I have actual toes now, these will take a long time to get used to.

Finally, my hands.

My fingers, again, just slightly longer. But now the tips aren't rounded and smooth, now they are pointy and sharp.  
I had succeed in imitating the organics clawed appendages.

I just stare at my hands for a while.

They are... Different.  
All of me is different now.

I approach the cave wall (tripping like thrice, it seems my sense of balance is slightly off, going to have to work on that) and try to grab hold of the rocky surface.

It's easier. MUCH easier than before.  
It worked.  
I encountered a problem, thought of a solution, implemented it, and it worked.

HA! only good for piloting my- WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT.

I felt something soft grazing my back. I quickly spun around, but only see a glimpse of something.  
I'm... Embarrassed to admit I spun on that cave for over ten minutes chasing my hair.  
When I finally realize what it is, I grab hold of it and try to get a feel for it's new shape.

Uh, seems my hair now connects to itself near the base of my head, and then flows till almost my lower back.  
I remember that in the few times I tried climbing it kept getting into my face, I guess I subconsciously remembered that problem.

It feels softer than before too.  
I like it.

\---

After unblocking the cave entrance, and hitting my face on its edge, I have to keep in mind that I'm about a head taller now, I walk towards a nearby lake I hoped was still there. I'm pretty sure forty days shouldn't be enough for a lake to dry, but still, who knows how things work on this planet.

I reach it and took the first good look at my newest self.  
Uh.

I look... Good.

I mean, functional! Yes, I look like I can perform what I need to, good.  
My color palette seems unchanged, but my uniform is slightly different. There isn't any major changes, just a slight different pattern of shapes.

Meh, irrelevant.  
Now I should be able to explore the planet surface much easier.

But maybe I should plan more how I go about it. So I can find the most efficient way. Instead of just choosing a random direction and going forward.

This... This isn't really how a tanzanite thinks.  
How I should think.  
But...

I like this. I think I like making plans, and solving problems.

Uh.

I did not know I liked things.


	3. A new plan

Since so many areas of this planet are so similar, I have decided to leave big obvious markers in those I already been in.

I kept the pointy rock and I've been using it to carve the trunks of the trees, or if there aren't any around, scratch some big rocks.

I wasn't sure what I should write, so I just settled for a big X.

Using the sun position, Im able to easily identify the cardinal points of this planet. Making use of this, I shall explore the lands in a grid pattern, making a mental map as I go.

I have decided to prioritize the search in organic active areas, if I don't find anything I shall explore the seemly uninhabited ones. If that also fails, I shall explore the bottom of the oceans.

I have a lot of work to do.

\---

Year 78 since the crash. I've been methodologically exploring this continent. If my memory of the planet from orbit is accurate, I'd say I progressed about 0.8 percent in my self given mission. Not too bad I suppose.

Still no signs of civilization. 

I've had to change pointy rocks so many times already. They either shatter in pieces too small to be of use, or become so dull I can barely scratch a tree with it.

I think I should improvise some tools to assist me.

\---

After a couple months of experimenting with different materials, I had found the best combinations I have available at this point in time.

Curiously enough, even though claws are pretty good for having a more secure hold of things, they make pretty poor job of delicate tasks. Might need to adjust their shape a bit if I ever get poofed again.

I found a more resistant kind of stone, and shaped it into simple long knife like forms. I've made ten of them, enough to last me a couple of years, and making use of some of the sturdier bigger leafs, constructed a small satchel to carry them around.

Which promptly got ripped open from the inside because all of the loose knives.

This time I made sure to individually wrap all the pointy and sharps part of the knives BEFORE putting them inside the new satchel I had to make.

But now this should make marking the explored areas much easier.

\---

Apparently, I had been pretty lucky with the organics I found in my past years here. Because after reaching a completely different biome, I found... Bigger ones. Bigger, more aggressive ones.

Like the one currently pinning me down to the ground.

It was big, easily twice as big as a quartz soldier, so about four times my size.

One if it's limbs pressed down on my chest, while it's two beaked head keep trying to peck my head off.

How in stars name do smaller organics deal with this sorta situation?? 

I stare at my currently pinned down clawed hands.

Oh. Right.

They scratch and bite.

I dodge the beast's next peck as best as I can, lounge forward and bite it's neck as hard as I can.

Of course, my teeth aren't particular sharp, but my hold must have been hard enough to hurt it, if it's pained screeching and trashing was anything to go by.

Yes! The stupid thing let my hand free, I try scratching its side, but my claws barely do superficial cuts.

Okay, new plan. I use my now free hand to reach to any of my freaking KNIVES THAT ARE LYING AROUND THE GROUND stars panic makes me downright stupid sometimes.

Easier said than done, the beast seems to have a new plan as well, instead of just thrashing around, it's raising it's head and slamming me against the ground over and over to make me stop biting it.

Auch.

By luck alone I manage to grab one of my knives, and just thrust it wildly into the animal's side.

It howls, and does such a violent quick movement that it throws me off completely.

Luckily a tree trunk stops me. 

Painfully.

By the way the animal is wildly (and unsuccessfully) trying to remove my knife, I think it's a safe bet to say organics liked getting stabbed as much as I do.

Seeing that I just stood again with little to no visible damage, the organic seems to have decided I'm not worth the trouble of possible future injuries, so it just runs away.

Good.

I immediately collapse in the grass. That was tiring.

And dangerous. Who knows what that beast would had done with my gem if it managed to poof me.

I took a couple of minutes to calm myself, and then proceed to collect my remaining knives.

Unfortunately, with one embedded into the animal, and with how many it stomped into pieces while trying to throw me off, now I'm down to just three. Not to mention I have to make a new satchel.

Again.

Seriously this will be like the tenth one.

I hate organics.

\---

Year 300 since the crash.

Things have become a very steady and repetitive routine for the last decades.

Walk, mark the terrain, avoid organics, craft new knives when needed, repeat.

Nothing of importance has happened in the last centuries. I had a couple more encounters with hostile organics, but they all either retreat or die after a couple of stabs.

Still no sign at all of civilization.

But...

I'm not, I haven't been looking as enthusiastically as I should.

I find myself getting easily distracted, or wanting to go off my planed search grid to explore an interesting organic, or just taking more time than necessary to perform tasks.

For example, even if at the beginning it took me days to craft a single knife, now after hundreds of them, I'm so proficient at it that I can wipe out a new one in just a few hours.

But I have been, I don't know, decorating them a bit more? 

Before I just crafted the most efficient shape and leave it at that, but now I have started to make each one slightly different shaped, some curvier, some longer, some serrated, I even started carving small patterns on them. Mostly just trying to imitate some of the natural patters that the flora displays.

Stars, I even started crafting wooden handles for them, and they serve no purpose other than looking prettier.

I mean, I'm no bismuth, but I'm still pretty proud of my detail work.

I haven't been this bored of a routine since... Since I was looking for planets.

But that's my purpose, isn't it? My only function? Why does the idea of doing my purpose again makes me so... Sad?

Maybe I should take a break tomorrow.

\---

I haven't left this area for the last four months. I mean, sure I still move around and do things and all, but I should had moved along the grid a long time ago.

I have done a lot of thinking.

And I think it's time to accept the facts.

I can't go back to homeworld.

But most importantly.

I don't WANT to go back to homeworld.

Worst case scenario, they take one look at my off color gem and shatter and or harvest me.

Best case scenario, they don't care about my new appearance (yeah, not likely) so they just assign me a new ship and route, and send me off again.

And that's it, isn't it? Just... Wandering space again, superficially checking out planets, over and over again?

Until what? I crash again? This time in a planet that actually shatters me?

Or until the universe runs out of new planets? 

Oh I know, until the empire decides they don't want to invade planets anymore??

So my options are reduced to death by the empire, or an eternity of serving the empire in a task I find no joy nor entertainment.

Or the third option... I just, stay here.

And do whatever I want.

A gem shouldn't think like this. We are the empire. We are FOR the empire. For the diamonds. Any other gem would recoil from just the thought of not being useful to the diamond authority.

But I guess that's the point, isn't it?

I've never felt useful.

I'm not like a peridot, maintaining and running entire kindergartens to produce the next generation of gems, or an agate, keeping hundred of soldiers in line for the next invasion, or like a bloodstone, terraforming entire planets. Stars know a bloodstone wouldn't had had much of a problem with landing in lava like I did.

But a tanzanite, we are so... Replaceable. I wouldn't be surprised if future eras just used a bunch of robonoids to do our jobs. Heck, has anyone ever checked if a tanzanite didn't return or report back? 

Does anyone even realize I disappeared?

Has anyone even noticed?

Does anyone even care?

\---

It took me a few months of internal debate, but I've made up my mind.

I'm going to keep exploring this planet. But not to search for technology. Or more accurately, not with the end goal of contacting homeworld.

But because if I'm going to spend the rest of my existence on this planet, might as well see all it has to offer. 

I've also decided to forgo my grid route, and just go wherever I find the most interesting.

I still remember the thrill, the excitement, of when my plan to reform in a cave succeeded. Making up a plan, an experiment, and having it succeed? It was such a nice feeling. I loved it!

So I want to do more of that.

And since there's plenty of stuff in this planet I find quite fascinating, but I had been ignoring in order to search for technology, I think I'm not gonna get bored anytime soon.

\---

The first thing I chose to investigate was the flora. Even though I have learned how to deal with most animals, they still make me slightly uncomfortable.

There are SO many kinds of trees. But they are all still trees! It's fascinating, similar with how many different kind of quartz there are. 

Some trees are ridiculously huge, taller than the Diamonds palace, others are only a couple of meters tall, but COVERED in colorful seed pods, that apparently lots of animals consumed.

Yet others where barely taller than me, but with trunks as wide as my ship had been. 

It was fascinating.

I've also took notice of properties unique to the different woods. Some are way more sturdy, others way more flexible.

Some seem to produce a kind of sticky, sweet smelling liquid in their inside, while others not only are completely dry, but also filled with small holes or other patterns.

I've also found out that my usual knives work pretty poorly cutting up wood. The serrated ones seem to be the best option.

I wish I had access to better tools. It's a shame I wasn't able to salvage any metal from the ship.

I mean, I don't know how to work with metal, but I didn't knew how to work with stone either.

\---

Year 780 on the planet.

It's so crazy to think how by now I've spend more time here than anywhere else. But honestly I don't really mind.

I DEFINITELY prefer this than 700 years in a cockpit.

I kept up with my experiments of the flora, moving from trees to flowers to moss etc. 

I found much more efficient ways to manipulate the organic material, my latest satchel had lasted me for over 5 years and counting.

Not to mention now instead of just knives, I carry a bunch of different tools each shaped precisely for a different job.

My favorites are still knives though.

Today I reached a quite important point of my exploration.

It seems I've completely explored this continent.

That's, honestly that's surprising.

When I was still following that strict route, every day seemed to drag on for ages; but now that I'm actually enjoying what I do, it seems to have passed in a blink.

This brings me to quite the predicament.

Even though I just glanced at the planet from orbit, I clearly recall there being numerous continents. Not too far away from each other.

Now it's the matter of how do I reach the next one.

Realistically speaking, I could just walk the ocean floor until I reach it, I know my body will adjust to the different gravitational pull and keep me against the ground. 

The problem will be the currents.

I've observed water bodies long enough (they are quite fascinating as well) to understand how they work. If the water gets overly violent, due to a storm (stars was it not fun the first couple of times I encountered those) or something similar, the seafloor would become absolute chaos. 

It would be the equivalent of standing in the middle of a tornado. 

Even if I managed to not get throw all over the place, the currents themselves will tear my body apart. 

Not to mention, I have actually no idea how deep the oceans go, nor do I know how much pressure my gem can take.

And I'm NOT reforming myself with fins. They would be completely useless to get myself out of the water.

Plus they look gross and slimy.

Well... I do know all the kind of wood that float the best, and the sturdier ones.

In theory I could build some sort of floating platform, of course that would only solve the problem of staying above the water, I would need to develop both a propulsion and steering system.

Like my ship.

Uh, I still do remember how to maintain and repair a ship, so building one for scratch should be technically possible.

Of course this would travel through water instead of space.

And be made of wood instead of metal.

A wooden ship that travel the water. 

I think I'll call it... A watership. 

This project is going to take a long time.

But I'm actually looking forward to see if I can figure this out.


	4. The sea life is not for me

The last couple of years have been so frustrating. And fun!  
The emotional spectrum is complicated.

I've done so many experiments with different kinds of wood, different shapes, sizes and methods.  
I have no idea what cut of gem actually creates the ships on homeworld, but my compliments to her, figuring this out is hard.  
The first hard thing I had to figure out actually, was how to bond multiple pieces of wood together.  
After all I can't just weld them together like metal.

I tried.  
Fire was not only hard to produce or come by, but also a bad idea.

When that failed I tried braiding thinner and more flexible plants into ropes, but just tying the logs together left them too flimsy and the structure too weak.  
I admittedly hit a dead end for a couple of years (not that I wasted them just sitting around while pouting, I still tried to figure out ways to recreate a propulsion and steering system)

Since I couldn't just search in my ship files and open up it's schematics, I decided to look for ideas somewhere else. In this case, organics.  
I took a small break from building, and left the shore for the time being, walking deeper into the continent again, this time to research animals, more accurately, those animals that show adequacy at building and maintaining small structures.  
First ones I took a look at were avians, who built small nests in tree branches and other high locations.  
The (usually) feathered animals were brilliant architects, weaving small twigs and sticks and leaves in such way that the structure resisted strong winds, rain, and sometimes even attacks from small predators.  
Unfortunately, all of these building techniques became useless in a much bigger scale. I still took notice of these methods for future crafting, I think I could heavily improve my next satchel with that sort of weaving.  
I could probably make strong enough ones to last me over a decade now.

There was a particular bird with a much more interesting nest though, this one didn't only used small branches and sticks, but also a mix of its own saliva and dirt, to create a thick liquid that solidified into a much resistant walls, still not too useful to build a watership, since I'm sure the water would dissolve most of the mixture, but I haven't considered mixing other substances as well.  
Maybe I could mix up different materials to try and create a natural bonding paste? Like an organic cement of sorts. I have never considered working with chemistry before, but it could be fun.

\---

In the end, I found the solution among the smaller organics, insects.  
Their architecture was on par with the bests bismuths of the empire, they could build structures hundred if not thousands of times bigger than themselves but so sturdy it could house them for dozens of generations.  
There was this species of hand sized flying insects, covered in puffed up purple fur, that built their hives near the cliffs. The way they shaped specific segments and interlocked them in a patterned order was brilliant. They basically made the structure support it's own weight by distributing it so perfectly.

It was exactly what I needed to do.

\---

It took me 35 more years of experiments, 150 more of actual building, and 6 prototypes, before I finally succeeded.  
A beautiful, sturdy, big enough to be comfortable, watership.

And it only lasted me one month.

I took precaution against the waves, the winds, the storms! But like an idiot I forgot an important detail.  
When I left the grass plains and reached the deep forests, the animals became much bigger and dangerous.  
I didn't considered the possibility that the ocean could work the same way.  
I knew there was aquatic organics, but I only ever saw small ones near the shore.  
I couldn't even take a good look at it, it just pounced straight out of the water, it's size that of three or four of my ship, and completely destroyed it.  
And swallowed me before I even had time to choose between sinking or trying to stay afloat.

I HATE organics.

\---

My anger is slowly shifting into panic.

Even if it's general size was massive, the insides of the beast wasn't nowhere as big. I had about the same room as I did inside that cave I reformed almost a millennia ago.  
Everything was pitch black, so I could only explore my confined (and very, VERY disgusting) surroundings by touch alone. I only found small scraps of wood of my ship, seems the beast ignored the wreckage and aimed directly at me. I also couldn't find any of the supplies I had stored in the ship, so I didn't had any materials to craft new tools with.

But that wasn't the worrisome part.

Even if I have no way to measure time, I know I have been here for a while now. Way longer that I've seen surface animals process food.  
It's probably been almost a month already, but there's hasn't been any change whatsoever, nor has the animal ate anything new in all this time.  
I have no idea how this stupid fish anatomy or food consumption worked, I could be stuck here for centuries for all I know!  
I tried clawing my way out numerous times, but the combination of thick skin and inner fluids made my claws completely useless.

It made ME completely useless.

I hate this.

\---

I'd say it's been maybe a year. But still no changes.  
The small wooden fragments that were swallowed with me had long since turned into useless mush due to the organic stupid inner fluids. So I didn't even had anything to work with anymore.  
If only the stupid thing could had swallowed a couple of big rocks or something I could craft a new knife and gut this damn fish from the inside, yes later I would have to risk it in the currents, but it would be better than this.  
It would be so easy, and I could make the best knife for the job, long, pointy, and a smooth curved edge, with a simple but elegant design, that would easily cut into these stupid purple walls.

Wait.

The walls weren't purple before. Actually, I wasn't able to SEE the walls before.  
It was like they were being illuminated by a purple lamp.

Wait.

I'm purple.

I look down, and surely enough, my gem is glowing. I knew some gems could make their gem glow to function as a flashlight, but honestly I never even considered the possibility that I could as well.  
But that's not the freaky part.  
The freaky part is that there's something coming out of my gem.

I carefully grab whatever this thing is, trying to not go into full panic mode at the fact that there's apparently SOMETHING GLOWY EMBEDDED IN MY GEM, and slowly pull it out.

My mouth hangs open, my gem is still providing a now softer purple glow that allows me to clearly see the equally purple knife in my hand.  
It was almost exactly as the one I was picturing in my head.  
Except that instead of rock, this one was made of, well, me.

More accurately, it was a solidified light construct. Like my body.

It was a weapon. I summoned a weapon.  
My weapon.  
I. SUMMONED. A. WEAPON.

Like a quartz soldier, like an agate, like a ruby guard!  
I stare at the beautiful long knife in my hand.

I'm getting out of here.

\---

It was a gruesome effort, it took me hours to cause enough damage to kill the animal, and days to carve myself a way out. When I finally got out, I sank to the bottom of the water, luckily not as deep as I expected, and took out running towards the nearest shore before any other predator could take a shot at eating me again.  
It took me weeks, lots of close calls, and even more dumb luck, but I made it.

I collapsed in a sandy shore, finally out of the water, in a completely different continent as far as I could tell.  
I just lied there for a couple of days, admiring the sky. Who would have thought I would miss it so much.

Now that I'm out, and that it's daytime again, I summon my knife again.  
It still takes me a lot of work and energy to do so, I doubt I could summon more than 2 or 3 per day. But I am getting faster and better at it.  
It's gorgeous, it doesn't look like metal, nor as mere carved rock, instead it looked very similar to my gem, material wise. It was long, about half my arm length in total, with a perfectly symmetric curved edge, a solid looking handle, and a functional guard separating the two.

Next stupid organic that tries to swallow me will get a nasty and stabby surprise.  
I can't help but smile.  
Things just got a tad easier.

And it would definitely help having a knife always handy in case I need to stab myself again.

Ugh.

That's a troubling sentence.

Even though I have no clue in what direction that stupid fish swam during the last year, I know for a fact this isn't the same continent I inhabited the last millennia. Those massive mountains in the distance weren't visible from any point of the first one, and I'm pretty sure I would remember such peculiar looking terrain.  
So, new completely unexplored continent, no supplies except for my knife and my apparent natural gem flashlight, and unknown terrain flora and fauna to find, analyze, and conquer.  
This was going to be entertaining.

But I'm gonna lie down right on this beach for at least another week. 

If I ever see another fish again I'm going to stab it out of principle.


	5. settling down

It's been just shy of 2000 years since the crash on this... on my planet.

Things have been fine, for the most part. I explored most of the surface, traveled to multiple continents, made more ships, made ships WITH defenses, though it still took me 4 more wrecked ships until I was able to kill one of those stupid huge fishes without having to get close enough to stab at it myself.  
I admittedly thought that by now I would be bored out of my mind, but that's not the case. 

Every time I found something interesting, I researched and experimented with it, until I learned all there was to learn about it.  
And honestly? I keep finding new things! I have learned about hundreds of kinds of plants, hundreds of animals, insects, the weather, terrains.

I even started building structures for myself.  
Small housing units doted through the continents, each new one a tad bigger and better than the last. My first dozen or so used to collapse in their first year, until I got the hand of it.

My last experiment has been about imitating the organics customs, mostly just to see if I would find them pleasant or not.   
Like sleeping, sleeping is pretty nice. Thought I only do it sparingly. Don't want to leave my guard open so often.  
Now I have moved to eating.  
Eating is... Interesting, to say the least.  
Literally every organic (or at least every organic I've meet so far) needs to partake in this ritual to survive.  
One could jump to the conclusion that this alone already makes organics inferior to gem kind, add the factor that as long as we avoid injury we can live for millennia like is nothing, while organics last mere decades, makes us evidently superior.

But are we thought?

The way organics feed of the planet natural resources, but keeping it in a constant level of use and return, was incredible.   
With only one planet, as long as they don't derail of their current rhythm of consumption too much, they can give life to almost infinite new generations. They can basically remain living as long as the planet does, which naturally will take billions and billions of years.  
All with only one planet.  
While homeworld needs to burn through dozen of planets for each new generation.   
The rate at which we consume resources is just, ridiculous.

In fact, I have noticed a LOT of homeworld ways could be so easily improved if they just tried new methods.

Best example? Me.

I'm the most basic of gems, a nicer way to say the most useless kind.  
And yet, here I am, basically conquering an entire planet on my own.   
I've learned to craft, to build, to experiment, to survive.

Just imagine, the amount of resources homeworld could save, if instead of making a different kind of gem for every little slightly different task, they'd just made a basic batch of gems, and teaches them how to perform different ones.  
If I learned how to build a house with no instructions what so ever, and it only took me a couple of centuries and LOTS of trial and error to find the proper methods, just imagine how fast a group of gems could learn if assisted by someone who actually knows about it, like a bismuth or something.  
Homeworld could have a new generation of builders in just a few years. 

Add peridots teaching engineering and robotics, agates teaching tactical strategy, quartz teaching combat, zircons teaching the legal system, etc.  
A whole new generation of useful gems for the empire, all born from just one planet, without having to build dozens of different specific types of kindergartens.  
I mean, of course there's some things you can't teach, I'm pretty sure no amount of research is gonna turn me into a terraformer, or give me future sight.  
But my point still stands.

Anyway, I've gone way off topic.

Back to eating.  
As I mentioned, all organics needs to eat one way or another. I've divided food types in the following categories:

Water, but only non sodium heavy one. This one was shared by all organics as well, could come from lakes, rivers, rain etc. Not sea, apparently.  
Plant matter, which can be subdivided in grass, leaves, flowers, and seed pods, also called fruits.  
Flesh matter, which consists of the bodies of all the animals that consume the previous mentioned category, they in turn become a food source to those bigger (or cleverer) than themselves.  
And the third category, others. Reserved for animals that consume things that I have no idea what the stars they are.

Seriously I found a species of slow scaled quadrupeds that feed on some sort of glowing... Slimy... Things.  
I have no idea what they are or where it comes from, but from the way it melted everything except those particular animal's tongues, I'm gonna keep my distance from it.

But yes, I've decided to try to eat.

First, non salty water.  
Pretty pleasant, refreshing for sure, but it feels really strange when flowing inside me. But is specially good to cleanse my taste after eating something new.  
I also drank salt water out of curiosity.  
I can see why organics avoid it all together.

Next, plant matter.  
Grass is... Chewy, and pretty plain. Mostly bitter.  
Not too great.  
Leaves taste mostly the same as grass, but I soon found out that they could have a wide range of flavors. Some were even enjoyable, with a very soft sweet taste, but it was mostly overrun by it's unpleasant texture. Maybe I could find a way to extract that flavor, if I ever have the need for it.  
Flowers were basically the same as leaves, but with a smoother texture.  
Fruits though, fruits were amazing. Well, most of them. There's dozen of completely different flavors and textures, some not so pleasant, others just incredible. I'm gonna carry a few of my favorite fruits from now on just to enjoy their taste from time to time.

Now moving onto flesh matter.

I just killed the first small animal that crossed my path and took a bite out of it.  
It was very, VERY, unpleasant.  
I did not know I had the internal structure necessary to throw up, alas, I do.  
My original plan was going to be tasting different kinds of flesh from different animals. But no. Stars no.

I'm sticking to fruit.

In fact, I wonder how hard would it be to plant, grow, maintain and collect more of these fruits. I guess my next project will be figuring out how to make a farm.  
It will also be interesting to try and mix some of this fruits flavors, who knows I might find some tasty combos.

\---

It's been over 3500 years now.

And admittedly, it's getting harder to find new things to do.   
I have seen pretty much all there's to see by now, been everywhere I could.  
I have my many structures scattered around the planet, my waterships, my farms.

But just because there's not much left things I find interesting, doesn't mean I can't figure something out.  
I've been thinking about experimenting more directly on organics.  
Not only observing and learning, but directly interacting with their environment and society.  
Putting them through specific situations and scenarios, taking note of their response.

I wonder how much I can affect and modify their natural behavior.

\---

I have been on my planet for around 5000 years, give or take a couple centuries.

And these last ones had developed into a routine of sorts.  
Repetitive.  
Predictive.  
Boring.

I'm admittedly getting slightly tired of it.  
But...  
Today was different.

The animals were acting unusual, making a ruckus and growling at the sky.  
And after a few hours observing I could tell why.

I saw a ship circling the planet from orbit.

A homeworld ship.

Something new.

\---

I have no idea what that ship could mean. My first theory was that this was simply another tanzanite, but even if homeworld technology had advanced in this last 5000 years, there's absolutely NO chance they would give a tanzanite a ship like that. Too big, too fast, and I'm sure I saw weapons on it.  
That ship seemed more like something a general would personally use.

I can tell by it's flight pattern that it's searching for something.  
Of course I had no chance to follow it from the ground, but I had built a couple of tall watchtowers scattered around the world, each one with multiple visual enhancers, using special shaped glass.  
It seemed attracted to areas with my constructions on them.

It's been flying around for about three hours, but now it's landing near my current housing unit.  
I remain hidden but as nearby as possible, the ship is about 100 meters in front of me.  
The hatch opens, and a figure walks out, looking around.

That... That doesn't look like a gem.

That looks like an organic.

What?


	6. Who's ready to go to a road-trip?

With a bright pillar of light and a melodious noise, the galactic warp pad of the palace delivered a (mostly) human boy of 16 into homeworld.

He was welcomed by a yellow pearl performing the formal diamond salute.  
"Greetings pink lasagna."  
"You are never letting that go are you?" his tone was only playfully exasperated.  
"No I'm not." She replied taking on a slightly more casual pose.

The two started walking the same route Steven has walked at least twice a month for the past half year, towards the ballroom.

"Hey where's Bloop at?"  
"Blue pearl is currently handling the transmission of the weekly empire wide report of status, events and-"  
"Bloop is running your guys radio show, got it."  
"Do you really have to come up with silly names every time you talk to multiple gems of the same batch?"  
"Yeah sorry, just feels weird calling four people Pearl you know?"  
"Well you could always use our serial numbers. Wait here"

Steven just sighed, he knows that no matter how much he insists a presentation wasn't needed, yellow pearl was going to do it anyway.

"My Diamonds, Steven Universe has arrived."

A chorus of "Steven!" Immediately surrounded him as he made his way inside the ballroom.

"Hey Yellow, hi Blue, hello White."

In front of him was the Diamond Authority, rulers of the gem empire. Yellow and White diamond were both sitting on their corresponding thrones, Yellow handling numerous holo screens around her.  
Sitting on the floor was Blue diamond, playing with a pink gem who was currently wrapping herself around Blue's wrist.

"Is that a new bracelet Blue, 'cuz it looks lovely." This was accompanied by a finger guns plus wink salute.

Spinel just blew him a raspberry as a response. But she unwrapped from blue and landed near Steven all the same.

"You two let us know if you need anything."  
"Will do White, see you guys later!"

Spinel and Steven walked side by side out of the ballroom, and into a random hallway. The pink gem still hadn't said a word, seems like today she was in one of her rarer quiet moods.

For the last six months Steven has been visiting Spinel, twice a week, just to talk.  
The first couple of times were the hardest, with Spinel randomly switching to clinging to Steven and not letting him go anywhere without her, to her getting enraged the moment she lay her eyes on him, and having to run somewhere else to smash something to calm herself down.  
Recovery was a hard process, but Spinel was getting better. Steven made sure of that.

"So how's Peeps doing?" It seems this time it was up to Steven to get the conversation going.  
"Oh she's doing great! I think she's gonna dance in the Pearls's show tonight."  
"That's great! And how are you doing?"

Spinel seemed to deflate just slightly.

"Meh, good I guess, today's a bit of an off day ya' know?"  
"That's okay, we can just walk today if you want?"  
"No no, talking 's good, it helps and stuff."

Steven gently guided Spinel's hands away from her hair, which he knew she was about to start pulling. It was a bad habit they were trying to stop.  
He kept a hold of her hand and playfully swung it between them, he knew it always cheered her up; plus they were trying to acclimate spinel to friendly casual contact. Being a gem made literally for playing, being left alone for 6000 years left her both touch starved and unused to the feeling of other people touching her.

"I'm glad you have Peeps here to keep you company besides the Diamonds."  
"Oh yeah she's great! And it helps talking with someone who's been through similar junk ya know? I guess I shouldn't be too surprised I wasn't the only one Pink just left behind uh?"

Spinel seemed to glow with happiness every time Peeps, aka pink pearl, was mentioned. He and Connie were going to start acting like matchmakers if those two didn't ask each other out soon.

"Yeah, mom really wasn't the best before getting to... Earth."

Suddenly the boy stopped walking, Spinel's arm comically stretching behind her as she continued a couple steps more before realizing Steven wasn't at her side anymore.

"Uh? Ya okay Steven?"  
He had a look of realization mixed with mild panic.  
"Hey Spinel? Remember how mom didn't really let anyone know she was leaving you in the garden?"

Spinel immediately grind her teeth and stretched herself to be a head taller. Connie called it a defense mechanism, the bigger and more threatening you look, the less likely someone will try to hurt you.

"Yeah APPARENTLY her best friend wasn't even worth to mention~"  
Her voice fluctuated between too playfully high and a deep growl, she was squeezing Steven's hand almost painfully now, the boy flinched, he didn't mean to make her upset.  
"Yes but do you, you don't think there's more, right?"

Spinel rage turned to just plain confusion.

"Uh? More what, more gardens?"  
"No I mean, do you think there's more abandoned gems just waiting somewhere for Pink to come get them?"  
"Oh, oh. OH STARS I don't know? I mean Pink didn't really talk much to me about what she did on homeworld so maybe?!" 

Now both of them were slightly panicked.

"Let's ask the other Diamonds just in case."

With hurried steps they returned to the ballroom, and quickly explained their worries to the Diamond Authority.  
Luckily the Diamonds were just as quick to reassure them.

"Don't worry, I know starlight didn't had any other personal playmates or servants, and the only pets she ever kept where organics who are all long dead by now!"

Steven couldn't decide if he should smile relieved or grimace at the cheerful tone in which White delivered that last line.  
"Welp that's a relief, ain't right Steven?"  
It was a relief, but... Pink wasn't the only careless ruler of this empire.

"That's great but... What about you guys? I mean, are you sure there isn't any forgotten gem just floating around in some far off planet somewhere?"  
Yellow was the one who answered.  
"Of course, the only personal servants we ever had were our Pearls, and I have dismantled all off planet colonies and relocated all it's gems to new work areas. Which was NOT easy, Steven."

Yellow constantly reminded Steven of that fact.

"So to answer your question, no. There are not any gems just floating around aimlessly in space."  
Steven's look of relief was short lived.

"Yellow? Didn't you had a batch of... What where they called, those stars map making gems?"  
"Map making gems? Blue what are you talking about- wait. Wait you are right, those small gems I used to scout for new planets, but we replaced them with robonoids over 3000 years ago, I completely forgot they existed."

This time Steven openly frowned at the diamonds nonchalant tone. A very loud and exaggerated cough made Yellow realize this.

"So, where are those gems now?" Steven asked.

Yellow collapsed some of her holoscreens and opened up new ones. 

"Well they are currently... 346 'tanzanites' deployed into deep space. They should all had received the transmission explaining Era three and you, Steven, but since they never received explicit orders to stop scouting for new planets, it seems they simply continued with their assigned task. Is just a simple matter of sending a general 'report back and return signal'."  
"Well that's great!"  
"Yes. Great, more gems to reassign. But yes, all tanzanites should arrive back to homeworld between one and two weeks. The active ones that's it."  
"Wait what do you mean the active ones?" Steven asked.  
"Well, it seems the signal of 7 of the 346 ships vanished between deployment time and today. Most likely destroyed."  
"WHAT? can you check if the gems are okay?"  
"Don't be ridiculous Steven, of course I can't, the signals vanished. Most I can do is pinpoint where each one stopped transmitting their position."

Steven massaged the bridge of his nose. He truly will always have more to do.

"Then I suppose there's nothing to do but go check on them."  
"What?! Steven you can't- what am I saying of course you are going to take an unnecessary risk for some random gems. Fine, but don't even think about going alone. We'll have to search you a ship."  
"Wait why can't I just use mom's legs?"

Yellow glared at a suddenly embarrassed looking Blue diamond, while Spinel whistled a (too) innocent sounding tune.

"Because SOMEONE thought that it would be a good idea to let Spinel drive. Your legs are out of commission for the time being, repairs will take at least another month.  
"Jeez Spinel what did you do?"

Said gem just laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah sorta forgot the ship links to your movement, and I did something like this:" Here Spinel raises a leg and twist it into an spiral shape.  
"And the whole leg pretty much broke in 3 trying to imitate it... Whoopsie?"

"Of course, wait I know, Lars can take me! He and his crew haven't fly for a while."  
"Who?" Asked White diamond.  
"Lars, my human friend that you guys meet in the trial, stole a ship and became an AWESOME space pirate?"  
"Right. That one. If that's what you want fine, but have in mind some of these locations are pretty distant."  
"You should properly prepare for the trip Steven" Blue added.  
"Yeah, I'm gonna head back home to start preparing, sorry to cut our time short Spinel."

He really was sorry, not only Spinel needed these regular visits, but the gem was actually becoming a good friend. It saddened Steven just how different her relationship with him and the other crystal gems would have been if she approached earth with less revenge on her mind. Or if his mom would had just bring her along to earth in the first place.

"Nah it's okay, you're a busy guy, hah, with the whole savior of the universe routine and junk." 

Spinel was a terrible liar.

"Oh I know! You should totally come with me in this search and rescue mission!"

Spinel whole demeanor suddenly became giddy and almost glowing with happiness.

"Really?!"  
"Really?"

Chorused Spinel and the three Diamonds.

"Yeah! That way we can spend more time together, and I get to travel with a guard like Yellow always insist, I mean you are a pretty powerful fighter."

Here Spinel couldn't help but feel a whole mix of emotions at once.  
Happiness and flattery about having her skill acknowledged, pride in said skill specially since she developed it herself even if it was outside her function, and shame, remorse, guilt and sadness in the way she used that skill in the first place.

"Sure I'll go if you wanna"  
"Great, it's settled then. I'm gonna head back home to prepare, hopefully we can get everything ready soon"


	7. Too little too late

Preparations took a bit over a week in the end, between making sure the Sun Incinerator was on top shape, getting someone to cover for Lars and his crew at his bakery, making sure Connie could come with them, but specially Yellow had to take some time to pinpoint the last know location of those ships as accurately as possible.

"Yes Mom we got plenty of rations, don't worry; besides, Lars is going to be with us the whole trip! He could make a nutritious meal out of an old boot, we'll be okay. Okay gotta go, love you, bye! Sometimes I wish Peridot and Pearl wouldn't had figured a way to get signal here."

Connie said playfully as she waited with the others for Yellow Diamond to upload all the necessary information to the Sun Incinerator database.

"Are you guys sure we need all this food though? This ship is pretty fast you know."  
"Yeah but we can't just hyperspace to unknown space Lars, we could end up wrecked too. But don't worry as soon as we find everyone we can just hyperspace right back to homeworld."  
"There, that should do it. We programmed a route that will circle you through all 7 locations, starting with the one that went dark the soonest and ending with the one that did the longest ago."  
"Thanks Yellow! Hopefully this won't take too long and we can find all those tanzanites."  
"Or their shards."  
"Yellow! Don't be mean."  
"And you don't give Steven false hope Blue! Steven, you understand that the oldest signal went dark over 5000 years ago right? It's very possible that those gems are long shattered."  
"I know, Yellow. I know. Doesn't mean we shouldn't go check to make sure."

Yellow just sighed and mumbled melancholic to herself.

"Sometimes I wish Pink was half as responsible as you are, Steven."

\---

As they were lifting off, Connie could see some of the first returning tanzanites. All coming in small van sized ships.

"Uh Steven? are you sure we are looking for tanzanites?"  
"Yeah why?"  
"Oh it's just my mom has some tanzanite earrings, and they look... Never mind, must be a gem thing. Thanks for driving us there Lars."  
"You kidding? You guys made those giant ladies just gift the Sun Incinerator to me! I'm pretty sure people back on beach city could hear Emerald's outraged screech."  
"You really enjoy annoying her uh."  
"Dude, I'm a space pirate, it comes with the job."

\---

The first 2 tanzanites were easy enough to find, both had crashed into empty planets and got their radios destroyed beyond repair, so they decided to pretty much sit in place until they got picked up. First one been stranded in a rocky planet about one third the size of the moon for about 180 years, the second one in a dessert looking planet for 312 years.

Next 3 were slightly trickier, one's ship had gotten wrecked mid-flight by an unexpected asteroid field, they found her after 3 hours sitting in a car sized asteroid about 400 meters away from where the ship was destroyed. She's been there for 750 years.

Other had crashed into a small ocean planet, the crew had to search the ocean floor on foot (or in Steven and Connie's case, on bubble) until they found her almost a full day later, she's been there for 1800 years. This tanzanite was REALLY happy to be somewhere dry again.

Next one had also crashed is a rocky moon, but much more violently it seemed. By luck alone they found the by now ancient wreckage of the ship buried under huge rocks, apparently a cliff had collapsed on top of the ship when it crashed. It took another full day of everyone moving rocks out of the way (Steven did most of the heavy lifting) until they finally found the tanzanite gemstone, as soon as they released it she reformed, apparently after getting poof in the crash, the gem had been in such a small space it had been impossible to reform until now, poor girl was really confused. She had been buried for over 2200 years.

Next one was easy again, the tanzanite had accidentally flew too close to a solar flare, and all her ship's systems got fried. She quite literally got stuck sitting inside a powered off ship for over 3000 years.

Last one proved to be the hardest one.

It seemed this one had also crashed into a planet, a moon sized one. But unlike the others, this one was clearly habituated. There was organic life through around half the planet surface, yes, but there was also signs of civilization.  
Builds of varying sizes scattered all over the planet, some small, some big, some alone for miles, others clustered together to form what could be called small towns. Even small and huge farms too.  
But after circling the planet for a few hours, and even after exploring a few of the houses, they realize the planet seemed... Empty? There was no one living here, and even if some of the houses looked abandoned from centuries ago, others looked to have been in use not that many years ago.

"Okay this is weird right? Not the only one freaked out?"  
"I second that, captain"  
"Come on guys, let's check a few more houses till we find something"

It took a couple more hours, but while flying around Spinel spotted something interesting from the cockpit.

"GUYS LOOK"  
"GAH! STEVEN tell your pink friend to not jump on top of the console!"

Steven couldn't apologize to Lars as he has too busy observing what Spinel pointed out.  
Smoke.  
Or more accurately, smoke coming out of a chimney.

There must be someone in that house.

\---

It's not only a organic, there's gems with it. But I can't tell what kind of gems they are from here. One next to it could maybe be a Spinel? Maybe.  
There's also more organics, but they don't seem to be nor slaves no prisoners, what's going on?

...Screw it, direct approach is it.

I left my hiding place and walk towards the... Intruders? Yes I suppose I can call them that.  
Luckily, they landed their ship in a pretty optional spot for me, if things go south.  
Once I'm close enough I yell out to them.

\---

"HEY!"

Steven and the others quickly turn around at the shout, they can see what's clearly a gem walking towards them.  
But there's no way that's the gem they came looking for, even if slightly different, all the tanzanites were small ruby sized yellow and orange gems, this one was almost as tall as Pearl, a blueish purple color, or perhaps purplish blue.  
Her build wasn't as thin as Pearl, but neither as muscular or curvy as garnet.  
Her hair was tied and pretty long, reaching almost her waist.  
She had darker purple markings under her eyes, looking almost like make up or eye bags.  
She was walking decisively towards them, a neutral expression on her face.

Steven was the first to talk.

"Hi! Uh, we are-"  
"Are your intentions hostile?"

And she promptly interrupted him.

"Whu?-"

No one knew how to react to the situation, but it seemed that was not an appropriate response, the unknown purple gem put her (alarmingly sharp) fingers in her mouth and blew out a very loud and high pitched whistle.  
It was like the dense foliage surrounding them and the ship exploded with activity as dozens if not hundred of huge, ferocious looking animals suddenly appeared, clearly summoned by the previous whistle.  
They were bizarre to say the least, some covered in fur, others in scales, and a few even in feathers.  
Some had huge claws, fangs, beaks, bladed tails or an unholy combination of those, they were all hissing or snarling at them, ready to pounce in a second.  
Their sizes varied between huge dog sized, to huge bear sized ones. But then the ground started to shake, and a massive, elephant sized one appeared from behind the house, it walked steadily on its six legs until standing right next to the purple gem, it's loud and deep growling making its intentions clear.

"I'm not asking again." The gem's voice and stare had grown as cold as outer space.  
"WE COME IN PEACE!"

All eyes were draw to Connie.

"Okay to be fair I've always wanted to say that BUT ITS TRUE we are NOT an hostile force we are a rescue mission!"

That stopped the unknown gem in her tracks.

"Rescue... Mission?

The sheer disbelief in her voice was very prominent.

"Yes, rescue. We came looking for a-"

Steven took a step forward, which was quickly mirrored by all the animals, accompanied by louder threatening sounds. The boy quickly raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"We came looking for another gem, a tanzanite. Her ship's signal went dark in this planet a long time ago and we-"  
"Five thousand two hundred and seventeen years ago. Yes, I know."

Spinel was starting to get really annoyed at this gem for continuously interrupting Steven.  
Steven on the other hand, was ecstatic.

"Yes! Exactly, do you know her? Is she okay? We couldn't find any trace of her ship so we don't know what happened to her."

The gem remained silent, a far away look in her eyes. After a few seconds, she responded.

"There was a crash... At the volcanic area 5600 kilometers northwest from here. The ground opened up... And the ship fell into lava."

The self proclaimed rescue mission gasped in worry.

"She fell into the lava?? Damnit why didn't I ask bismuth to come with us, can any of you guys swim in lava? We could try to fish her gem out or-"  
"Um Steven, not many gems can just, go into lava without getting, ya know..."

This time was Spinel the one who interrupted Steven, ironically enough.

"What do you mean?"

The purple gem answered.

"A tanzanite doesn't have the density nor the resistance to survive being submerged into lava. The body will melt, and once the intense heat completely swallows the gemstone, it will crack and eventually shatter."

The organic boy looked horrified.

"She... She shattered? But I, we-"  
"It hurt."  
"What?"  
"It hurt a lot. I couldn't jump fast or far enough. My legs started to melt."

All the animals started whining in discomfort or fear, some even lowering their bodies to the floor into submissive positions. Even the huge one seemed to nervously shift it's weight between it's numerous legs.

"I clung to that edge for my life, hoping, PRAYING that my gem would fall onto solid ground."

Steven's group had an horrified look of realization on their faces.

The purple gem, the last Tanzanite, glared at them.

"If you came to rescue me, you are 5000 years too late. I already rescued myself."


	8. Throw for diplomacy

The rescue party stood still as if struck, Steven looked particularly distressed.

"Tanzanite... I'm, I'm sorry someone should had checked on you sooner."

Steven grabbed a fistful of his shirt right above his gem, but Connie gently grabbed his hand to hold it between them. Spinel wasn't the only one with bad habits.

"I should had thought of checking for lost gems sooner-"   
"Woah dude, come on you are sixteen! Not even your great grandpa times a hundred was alive back then!"  
"Lars is right, Steven. You are in no way responsible for how the empire acted back then."

As Spinel put her hand in Steven's shoulder, the purple tanzanite just stared at them. The behavior of this gems and organics was... Confusing.  
But interesting.

"Yeah, I know. But I'm a part of the empire now. So helping these gems is my responsibility."

He was part of the empire? An organic? Just what happened to the empire in the last 5000 years?  
The organic boy took a few more steps towards tanzanite, his face showing nothing but determination.  
The animals didn't like that.  
Some starting charging towards the boy, but a single snap of tanzanite fingers froze them all in their tracks, the few that moved forward slowly returned to their previous positions.  
Even so the boy hadn't showed fear once.

"Tanzanite listen, I can tell you made a life for yourself here, but if you want, ONLY if you want, we can take you back"

Her response was to scoff unimpressed.

"Back so the empire can shove me into another pod and shoot me to stars know where? Or even better, back so the Diamonds take one look at me and shatter me on the spot? No thanks."  
"The empire isn't like that anymore! I promise, I was going to explain it to you and the other tanzanites in the flight to homeworld, but I can explain it to you now. If you still want to stay after that then we'll just leave, we can even bring back stuff for you, like a radio or even a warp pad."

Tanzanite didn't look too convinced, but a particular part of the boy speech picked her interest.

"Other tanzanites?"  
"Yeah, we went looking for all the ones whose signals disappeared, we-"  
"Um excuse me?"

Everyone turned towards the timid voice, peeking her head out of the ship was one of the small yellow tanzanites, her gem located on her torso. She was nervously eyeing the animals surrounding the ship.

"The others were wondering if um, everything was okWAAH!"

She was rudely pushed off the ship, landing on the floor with a grunt, the gem that pushed her was another tanzanite, this one with her stone in her forehead.

"What is taking SO long! Can we leave this stupid planet and head back already WHAT IS THAT THING?!" she yelled pointing at the huge animal next to the purple tanzanite.

While her animals were growing annoyed with all the yelling, the local tanzanite was just staring at the others frozen, almost in a trance. Her stare was so intense actually, that the other tanzanite standing on the ship's opening took her gaze away from the massive animal and focused on her. Or more accurately, the gem on her shoulder.  
Immediately her expression turned into one of disgust.

"SERIOUSLY? Great, as if flying back in a ship piloted by a bunch of off colors wasn't bad enough, we wasted all this time looking for another one?"

While the rest of the rescue party all had looks varying between annoyance, anger, or surprise at the gem's audacity (read, stupidity), the local tanzanite expression went from perplexed to a cold, unimpressed stare. She snapped her fingers again, (Connie took notice that she seemed to use different fingers to give different commands) and all the animals immediately turned their heads towards her.

"Bring me the annoying one."

Before anyone could react, one of the smallest animals darted forward incredible fast, grabbed the tanzanite out of the ship's ramp, and threw her towards the other animals, a second one caught her midair and threw her again, this time making her painfully land at the feet of the purple one.  
Connie quickly drew her sword, Spinel inflated her fists and got into a fighting stance, while Steven worriedly tried to diffuse the situation.

"Wait! Don't hurt her-" 

A stomp of the biggest animal stopped Steven's plea, it left a pretty deep print in the ground not one meter away from the gem's head. The threat was clear.  
No one moved, no one talked, they all just stared at the purple tanzanite, who in turn stared coldly at the now terrified yellow one.

"I forgot how I used to look like."

This drew startled looks from everyone present, even the timid tanzanite back at the ship who was slowly picking herself up.

"Hard to believe I was ever that small..."

The other one was laying on her back, staring confusedly at her.

"Or helpless." 

She pressed her foot down on the gem's chest, holding her in place, even if she was now trashing in panic, she wasn't strong enough to remove the other's weight from her.

"Tanzanite!"

The boy shout drew her eyes away from the pinned down gem, mostly because how different it sounded from his previous plea.  
In fact, the organic the others referred as Steven seemed completely different from a moment before. He was holding himself tall, decisive, and serious. There was a summoned shield hovering near his arm.

"I will not let you hurt her." 

His voice didn't sound worried, or pleading, nor curios or chipper like before. He sounded completely sure of himself. He wasn't threatening to stop her, he was simply stating the fact that he WILL stop her.   
This group was just getting more and more interesting.  
The tanzanite took a few steps towards Steven, quite literally walking over the grounded one in the process, until standing only a meter apart from him.

"You said the empire is different now, that you were going to explain it to us in the flight back. Explain it now instead and we'll see what happens next."

With a small gesture of her hand, all the animals retreated back into the bushes and out of sight, even the huge one went back behind the house.  
The purple tanzanite also walked towards the house, opening the front door, that was about twice as big as regular doors back on Earth, and gestured the others to follow her.

of course the last one couldn't had been a simple pick up.


	9. Anecdotes and choices

With everyone still a bit tense, Steven told Lars and his crew to stay in the ship, just in case they needed back up, while he, Connie, Spinel, and the other tanzanites walked into the house. The tanzanite that was still sprawled on the ground took a lot of convincing to get anywhere near the purple one.

The house was actually very nice, built in a very traditional style, with some sort of mud or clay looking bricks, all cut into size and polished to a smooth surface. The house was supported by wooden pillars distributed through the structure.  
The interior was quite chilly, but that was to expect from someone who didn't suffer the cold the same way an organic did. But the place was very well illuminated, by a high number of windows and skylights.  
The interior wasn't as spartan as they expected, numerous furniture occupied the floor, mostly tables with what appeared to be lots of unfinished crafting projects on them, each one with wooden chairs nearby. The walls had a few shelves with interesting looking objects, most likely picked up from different places across the planet.

But the part that drew everyone's gazes was the walls.

They were COVERED in drawings, some framed and others simple nailed to the walls surface.  
Blueprints for structures, tools and even what appeared to be different kind of vehicles.  
There was also anatomical drawings of the different animals, some familiar ones from outside, others completely new and bizarre.  
But there was also beautiful paintings of landscapes from across the planet, only a few vaguely colored, most of the drawings seem to been done with some sort of reddish charcoal or something similar.

The tanzanite was just sitting in a wooden chair near the biggest and only empty table. She seemed to patiently wait for everyone else to stop googling at her drawings.

"Grab a seat from the other tables or don't, but let's hear this... Explanation."

Curiously enough, the first one to approach the table was the timid tanzanite with the torso gem, she decided to stand near the table, luckily the table was low enough that she could still see without having to step on something. Steven and the others approached next, followed by the other tanzanites, last one to move was 'the annoying one' as she had been named by the house owner. She was the one to stand the farthest from the table.  
One by one all eyes turned to Steven.

"Um. Right, right. So, I know a few of you already know about the war."

A couple of the tanzanites, those who have been missing the shortest, nodded.  
The timid tanzanite looked worried about the prospect of how much the war seemed to have grow, and both the host and the annoyed one didn't seem to care that much.

"But for those who been away longer,I'm gonna explain from the beginning."

And so Steven spent the next hour explaining earth, Pink's deserting the empire as rose quartz, the war, the crystal gems, the corruption, him returning to homeworld and turning the Diamonds around.  
And how since homeworld didn't need new planets to conquer for the time being, not to mention they had been replaced by robonoids anyway, all deployed tanzanites were being called back.

"And that's how I found out about you seven, and how your signals disappeared. I'm sorry it took so long."

The tanzanites remained quiet, it was a lot of information to take for some of them.  
The first one to talk was the purple one.

"Scenario two C."

At everyone's look of confusion she explained.

"I theorized long ago that if I ever got back in contact with homeworld they would either, one, take one look at me and shatter me."

Steven flinched at the pretty accurate guess of what the Diamonds would have done.

"Two, ignore it and simple send me scouting again, until A, I crash again, B, the universe runs out of planets, or C, they don't want to conquer new planets. Curious that the less likely scenario was the one to turn out correct."  
"The less likely being the empire not needing new planets?" Connie asked.  
"No. the less likely was just that they would ignore me becoming an off color."

Again, Steven flinched at the accuracy in that dryly delivered statement.

"Wait, what do you mean 'became' an off color?" one of the other tanzanites asked, this one with her gem on the back of her left hand. She sounded legitimately curious, if a bit worried.  
"YES I THOUGHT OFF COLORS JUST CAME OUT LIKE THAT DIRECTLY FROM THEIR EXIT HOLES?" 

Everyone flinched at that tanzanite sudden shout, this was the one that spent 1800 years underwater, she still had trouble remembering sound traveled quite differently in air. She noticed everyone's flinch and quietly apologized.  
The host tanzanite got a far away look in her eyes again.

"When I partially fell into lava, I still looked like you lot. I was able to hold my form long enough for my gem to land in a rocky edge. But when I reformed I looked... Like this."

She stared at her hands.

"Well, not like this shape, I was still just as small but purple."

Steven noticed Connie had a calculating look on her face, but he didn't mention it. Whatever she'd figured out she'll tell him later.

"Then... Why do you look like that?" Asked the timid one.  
"Because I had to. I'm guessing none of you had to spend centuries climbing difficult terrain, or fighting off aggressive organics. We can't shape shift so I just poofed myself to regenerate in a more appropriate form. It took my gem approximately over a month to come up with a more adequate form" 

The nonchalant way she spoke about poofing herself was off-putting for a lot of them, that wasn't something easy to do, for a lot of reasons.  
Most of the other tanzanites looked uneasy, this gem looked, acted, and did things so completely out of what a good tanzanite is supposed to be.

"Did you... Did you built this place?" Asked the timid one.

The annoying one interrupted the host reply.

"Don't be dull, tanzanites don't build. We aren't bismuths, she obviously just found this place."

Steven really wanted to interrupt before that particular gem ended up on the floor again.

"Okay listen tanzanite-"  
"Yes?" "yes?" "yes?" "yes?" "yes?" "yes?" "yes?"

... This is exactly why Steven has to come up with silly names for gems of the same batch. He might as well try out Yellow Pearl's method.

"Right, uh. How about you guys tell everyone your uh what does Yellow calls them, your serial numbers? You know your cut and faces?"  
"Facets." Spinel stage whispered.  
"That too."

"I'm facet 2i1s cut 6xh" The timid one mumbled.  
"Facet 2k1d cut 6xs" The one from the desert planet.  
"Facet 2l1m cut 6xe" The one stranded in an asteroid field.  
"2m1a cut 6xn" the 'annoying' one  
"FACET 2n1l CUT 6xo" yelled the one from a water planet.  
"I'm facet 2f1r cut 6xc." This was the first one they rescued, back in the rocky empty planet.  
"I think I was facet... 23, no, 2f1r cut... Something." And that was the purple one.

The rest of the tanzanites were horrified that the purple one could forget her facet and cut, apparently it wasn't very high on her priorities to remember something that was completely useless with only one tanzanite in the whole planet.  
Meanwhile, Steven was just staring blankly at them.  
This was the other reason Steven resorts to nicknames. There's absolutely no chance he'll remember any of those.  
Everyone in the room could tell this, but they decided to give the boy a break. He was an organic after all.

"And yes, I did built everything you see on this planet, 6xh."

The little yellow gem had stars in her eyes.

"That's amazing-" "NO."

Everyone turned towards 6xn, she looked enraged.

"Tanzanites DON'T build things! We don't tame stupid organics, we don't draw! We are only good to sit in a stupid cockpit and that's IT!" Her voice kept getting louder, and her fist were now hitting the wooden table with each new exclamation.

But the one thing everyone was focusing on, was the tears spilling from her eyes.  
The purple one just stared coldly at her outburst.

"Why did you got to do all those stuff!? I was just trapped in that stupid dead ship for over 3000 years." Her voice broke, she was futilely trying to wipe the tears off her face  
"I could do nothing but just... Sit in place and float aimlessly like an idiot! Like a tanzanite! That's what we do! That's ALL we do! not, not this!" With that last exclamation she kicked the leg of the table as hard as she could, it barely shook the structure.

Mostly everyone was staring at 6xn with similar expressions, mostly pity. Just because she didn't had to fight for her life doesn't mean that what she went through wasn't horrible on its own.

"That sounds awful... My asteroid field was pretty boring but at least I could walk around or jump to others." 6xe could tell that 6xn didn't like everyone looking at her like that, so she tried to redirect everyone's attention away from her.  
"YOU JUMPED BETWEEN, *cough*, you jumped between asteroids? What if you missed?!"  
6xe just shrugged. "It was a pretty dense asteroid field. Really the only thing I had to worry about was to keep away from colliding ones. That was... That was REALLY scary when it happened."  
"I ONLY, sorry, I only had to worry about fishes. I actually got swallowed a couple of times."

Steven wasn't sure how this era three explanation had evolved into a survivors group therapy, but he was really happy it happened. They needed this. With a look he Connie and Spinel agreed to let the tanzanites do most of the talking.

"Swallowed?" Purple one asked, showing interest for some reason.  
"Yeah, there weren't many fishes in the planet, and mostly very tiny ones, but a few predators were as big as our ships. Luckily every time it happened they seemed to realize they couldn't digest me after a few days, so they just spat me out. It still was really, REALLY, gross."  
"At least they just spat you out. Believe me carving your way out is way grosser."

Everyone just stared. She didn't seem like she was going to elaborate more on that.

Spinel was the one to speak out. "You can't just say that and not tell the story! What happened?!" Honestly she sounded more exited that anything else, it sounded like something out of those adventure movies Steven has shown her.

Going by the intense looks that everyone else was giving her, she supposed the spinel wasn't the only one who wanted to hear the story.

"A giant fish wrecked my ship and swallowed me while I was trying to cross the ocean-"  
"Wait didn't you said your ship fell into lava?"  
"My spaceship did, yeah. But I built a watership to cross the ocean."  
"YOU BUILT A BOAT?!" by reflex they almost looked at 6xo, but everyone did focus on Connie after her outburst.  
"Hehe, sorry, but did you? That's amazing! Was it a sailboat? Or more like a paddle one? Can I see it?"

Steven chuckled fondly, even after years of magical artifacts and alien spaceships, Connie still loved her boats.

"Maybe she can show you later Connie, we should let her continue."  
"Oh right, right. Sorry, please go on."

Again, this organics were weird.

"Right, I built a ship, about the size of that one you lot came in with, but a fish about four times bigger destroyed it and swallowed me while I was disoriented among the debris."

The others gasped, that was a BIG fish.

"I was trapped in what centuries later I learned was a secondary stomach, only understood how it worked after managing to catch and study one. Apparently the fish use it to digest smaller organic matter directly into the bloodstream, by slowly dissolving and later absorbing it through small pores covering the stomach skin"

That was incredible fascinating and disgusting, going by everyone's faces.  
This tanzanite actually reminded Steven a bit of early crystal gem Peridot, the way she explained things in a very scientific almost report sounding way.

"The dissolving liquid did nothing to either my body or my gem, so I got trapped in there for approximately a year or so. I couldn't see anything so there was little to no ways for me to tell time."  
"Is that why you have claws? Did you had to claw your way out?" 6xe sounded equally parts fascinated and disgusted.  
"No, I tried but the skin was too thick, the claws are mostly for climbing."  
"Then... How did you get out?" 6xn seemed to have calmed down a bit. Her voice didn't had an ounce of disbelief, just curiosity.

To answer, she just flexed her right arm so her hand rested on top of her gem, which started to glow, everyone gasped and stared amazed, as she slowly pulled out a wicked looking long knife.

"YOU CAN SUMMON A WEAPON!?" This was the first time that anyone has hear 6xh raise her voice, she sounded incredible awestruck, and was staring at the blade like it was the coolest thing she ever saw.  
"That's amazing! I thought only soldiers could do that!"  
"Um.. actually" 6xe raised her hand timidly, the one with the gem on it, and after a similar glow her whole fist was encased in what appeared to be a mix between a gauntlet and a bulldozer shovel.

The other tanzanites were immediately amazed as well.

"You too?!"  
"Um yeah, a few decades after I crashed in that desert planet there was a HUGE sandstorm, it completely buried me and I couldn't escape for a few years. But then I remembered a couple of small organics I had seen around, how they used their weird hands to dig in the sand. And after a bunch of months trying to imitate this suddenly I felt like, a draining sensation, but I could dig way faster! I didn't realize I had summoned this gauntlet until I popped out to the surface again." 

She sounded both embarrassed at all the admiring looks she was receiving, and pleased with herself for achieving something so rare.  
Steven and his friends shared a look, this was going great! The tension from before was completely gone. But they still had an important matter to discuss.

"So."

Steven clapped once to bring attention to himself.

"Since now you are all up to speed with homeworld new policies, what do you say uhhh 2.. 2g, no uh..."  
"Coff 2f1r coff"  
"Spinel you are supposed to cough not just say "coff" out loud." Connie whispered helpfully at Spinel.  
"... Tanny, can I call you Tanny?"

2f1r just stared at him. She couldn't exactly blame him, she did forgot her own cut after all.

"Sure." Her voice was so deadpan that Steven couldn't tell whenever she liked the name or hated it.  
"Right, so Tanny, do you want to come back with us?"

Everyone stared at her.  
The purple tanzanite, now referred as 'Tanny', seemed to be in deep thought.  
She took a long look at the knife still in her hand, gently running her fingers through the flat of the blade. Then she gave a good look at the house around her.  
She has built so many by now. Hundreds in fact. Move to a new place, build a house, live there for a couple decades, get bored, repeat.  
And repeat. And repeat again.

She was... Bored.

"I think I've done all there is to be done here... But..."

Even if she wasn't there for long, she remembered homeworld, and after 5000 years in an life thriving planet, it seemed so... Dull.

"I don't want to go back to homeworld."

Most of the other tanzanites gasped at this revelation.

"Why not?" Asked 6xh, her voice not only sounding as timid as ever, but with an added hint of sadness.  
"I don't care if it changed, I don't want to be part of the empire anymore. Any empire for that matter. And besides, I've gotten used to organic life."  
"Well, what about going back to Earth with us?" Steven suggested.

Spinel and Connie stared at Steven, sure it seemed like the perfect solution in the surface, but there could be some complications.

"I don't know. You said there's a pretty big settlement of gems nearby your Earth base. I don't particularly fancy being part of a... Community."

That was a nicer way to say she wanted to be left alone to her own devices.

"Well, Earth is pretty big, about twice this planet. There's plenty of non habituated areas you could claim. I mean, as long as they are nobody's else." Connie added.  
"Yeah, that's pretty much what Peridot and Lapis did at first! And they got used to Earth in no time!"  
"Steven didn't Peridot push your dad out of a roof?"  
".... OKAY, so there's gonna be some ground rules about humans before we get there, but there shouldn't be any problem."

Tanny took one last look around the house.

"Does the Earth have good fruits?"


	10. Traveling (through) light

Steven was very surprised at how little time it took Tanny to get ready. But turns out she didn't really had anything she wanted to take with her.  
She did had to put off the fire they saw from the ship, which apparently was from some sort of kiln cooking up some more bricks.

"Are you sure you don't ant to bring back any souvenir? your drawings or maybe some of those... thingies you are building?"

Tanny assumed that by "thingies" the organic Steven was referring to her half finished projects, mostly upgrades for her usual tools.

"Why would I bring them with me if I can just make new ones once I'm in your planet?"

Before boarding the ship, she gave another loud whistle, this one sounding slightly different from before.  
In less than a minute, there were HUNDREDS of animals sitting in front of her, easily five times more than the ones that showed up earlier that day.  
After staring at them for a few minutes, Tanny called up three of the medium sized ones, and gave them a few commands.  
those three animals then went in different directions, each one followed by a third of the horde.

After left than a minute, the only one left standing before her was the biggest one. It approached Tanny with thunderous heavy steps, let out a deep rumble like whine, and nuzzled her with its two beaked head.  
Connie was trying to figure out how the heck did that anatomy even worked when the animal had to eat, while Steven was smiling at the affectionate display.   
Tanny didn't return the gesture, but neither did she pulled away. After nuzzling her, the giant animal simply went back towards the house and lied down in front of it. Looking for all intents and purposes like a giant guard dog.

Without looking back Tanny boarded the ship and sat down in the newly installed bench type seat against one of the ship's walls.  
The Sun Incinerator ended up feeling quite crowded by the time it took off, luckily Fluorite had no problem staying in the engine room. Some of the tanzanites still had to sit a tad too close in those few benches, Tanny being one of the first to sit ended up almost squished between 6xh, who looked like all her early shyness came back tenfold, and 6xe, who was nervously shifting in her seat, wondering if she should bring out her shovel gauntlet in an attempt to make small talk.

Tanny did not look like she enjoyed being so close to others.  
The silence on the ship was quite heavy.

"SO, good news everyone, since we flew all the way here manually, the ship now has a preprogrammed safe route back to homeworld, so the Sun Incinerator will be able to hyperspeeed us back in twenty minutes or so."

Even after Steven's brave effort, the silence returned just as fast as it left.  
These are going to be some long twenty minutes.  
Next one to attempt to defeat it was Connie.

"So Tanny, why did your... Pets? Split up like that?"

Tanny didn't bother to look at Connie while replying, instead playing close attention to the ships interior. Homeworld technology has sure advanced leaps and bounds in the last millennia.

"If you mean my organics, I choose three pack leaders and told them to split up. If they all remained part of the same hunting pack they would eventually challenge each other and end up dead in less than a decade. This method assures the specie's survival for the next couple of centuries. Non accounting for outside factors towards the planet structural stability."  
"Right... Well if you ever get worried about them I'm sure we can come visit from time to time! And maybe then you could show me those boats you mentioned?"  
"Sure."

Connie couldn't tell if this was a "sure I would love to" or a "sure whatever just stop talking to me".  
She was leaning more towards the second option.

\---

After 25 more minutes of awkward silences and even more awkward attempts at small talk, the Sun Incinerator finally landed back on homeworld.  
Lars decided to leave the ship there for the time being, sure he would love to have it nearby, but his backyard wasn't exactly an hangar.  
He was also running out of excuses for not letting Ronaldo fly it.

The group heading to Earth was going to travel back via galactic warp pad.

Drifty (the tanzanite that jumped between small asteroids), Echo (the one who just sat around in a empty moon) and Sunny (the one who got stranded in her broken ship after getting hit by a solar flare, previously know as 'the annoying one') were the first ones to depart, looking forward to meeting the Diamonds to get their new assignments.

And yes, Steven did had to come up with names for all of them. He forgot all their facets and cuts even before leaving Tanny's house.

Drippy and Sandy went next, waving and thanking the group again for rescuing them. The last they saw of them was Drippy clinging to a flustered Sandy's arm enthusiastically asking to see the gauntlet again.

Last one was 6xh, who Steven had baptized Candy, (after explaining to Lars and Connie that he choose that name because she was cute and sweet enough to induce diabetes, they completely understood) was timidly playing with her hands, seemingly trying to say something before following the others.

Seeing how Tanny was already turning towards the warp pad, she finally spoke.

"Um, 2f1r?" Her voice barely above a whisper.  
"Yes?"  
"Could I, um. If it's okay, could I like, visityousomedayorsomething?" The small gem blurted out in a single breath, an embarrassed blush on her face, but the same admiring look in her eyes. It reminded Steven a little of himself, years ago whenever he asked the gems to spend more time together or go along in missions.

Tanny seemed confused about the request. It's not like Earth was her planet, she had no say in who could come visit or not.  
Noticing that Tanny was a bit oblivious to Candy's admiration, Steven answered for her.

"Sure you can! Everyone is welcome on Earth, whenever you want to visit just let any of the Diamonds or Spinel know and they can bring you right there."

The small gem looked both incredible happy at the news, and incredible nervous at the prospect of asking THE Diamonds for anything at all.  
With a small wave and a smile she hurried after the others.

"Well, time to head back. See you next week Spinel?"   
"Sure! Can't wait."

The two hugged, with Spinel wrapping her arms numerous times around Steven's torso and lifting him off the ground.

"Hopefully this time we don't get interrupted by discovering a bunch of missing gems or stuff like that haha... Ha. Ya know imma poke around the Diamond's stuff just in case."  
"That... Might actually be a good idea, but yeah hopefully that's the last problem for a while. For this month at least. Okay see you later Spinel!"

With that the group finally stepped into the warp pad and with a column of light, they were on their way to Earth.


	11. Firsts impressions

Steven was pretty glad that the Galaxy warp was significantly bigger than the temple one, it would had been a pretty crowded trip. Lars and his crew were the first to clear out, since it was still pretty early they were going to head back to Lars bakery to get it ready for the next shift tomorrow morning.  
Connie was about to head out of the warp room as well, but first she took out her phone to quickly search something that was bugging her before.

"So I was right!"  
"What was that Connie?"  
"I know why Tanny turned purple!"

This immediately caught the mentioned gem's attention, who was gently inspecting some of the plotted plants around the walls. the flora here seemed pretty similar to her planet so far. She approached the girl with an unreadable look on her face.

"It was the lava, or more accurately, your gem falling so close to the lava. It says here that naturally occurring tanzanite forms as a brownish crystal and is trichroic ,which means it shows three colors, brown, blue and violet concurrently. Heating removes the brown or burgundy color component to produce a stronger violet-blue color and makes the stone "dichroic" which means it only reflects blue and violet."

Steven had a very lost look on his face.

"You could say natural tanzanites have some yellowish brown impurities and heating them up removes them making them look bluish purple."

Tanny took on a calculating look, while staring at her hands.

"I assumed the cause to be the lava or intense heat. That's why I kept clear of the volcanic areas of the planet, in case it affected my gem further. But you say it removed my... Impurities?"  
"That's the gist of it. The whole process and reasons are a tad complicated, and Earth's natural gemstones aren't exactly like your kind, but that should be it"  
"..."

Tanny seemed to be lost in thought, while the two teens stared at her worriedly.

"It made me purer. So that's why I'm stronger uh."  
"Stronger? What do you mean?" Asked Steven.  
"After centuries on that planet, I took notice of something. I was strong. Or more accurate, resistant, much more than what was expected of a tanzanite.  
Sure nowhere near a quartz, but it took a lot of damage to poof me or even tire me. I could get picked up and thrown by an organic four times my size hard enough to dent a tree trunk without loosing my form."

While Connie looked fascinated, Steven was starting to feel guilty again, Tanny truly went through a lot of complicated times on her planet.

"I always wondered why that was, but I never really connected it to my color change... Could all off colors have improved skills to default gems? Or am I the exception?"

Her almost melancholic look was quickly replaced for her more common, bored/unimpressed one.

"This would be number one thousand two hundred eighty nine."  
"What?" That completely threw off the teens.  
"I made a list of things homeworld could do to improve if they weren't too stupid to think about them. Apparently they could made way stronger tanzanite batches if they heat treated us. Plus who knows how many off color gems are actually superior to traditional ones."

After over two years of constant coming and going from homeworld, both teens could certainly see such list existing. They used sentient people as hair combs for God's sake.  
Since they were talking while walking, they made their way out of the house, now Tanny could take a proper first look to her new home.  
It was... Sunny. And sandy. She could see where the teen got inspiration for the other tanzanites names.  
She couldn't see much from here, but it was... Pleasant. Though she was going to need some time to get used to sand and grass and trees having a different color.

At least the sky looked almost the same.

"Okay so, it's still pretty early, so maybe we can give you a tour around town! What do you say-"  
"Steven!"

The teen was abruptly interrupted, both by sometime happily shouting his name, and by a gem pretty much tackling him on the spot.  
The newcomers were three gems and an older looking organic. Older than the teens at least. Tanny just stared while they greeted Steven enthusiastically.

"And I see you brought a new... Friend?"

The group finally took notice of the purple gem standing behind the teens, Tanny could tell they got into less casual poses, slightly defensive, but they seemed to give her the benefit of the doubt.  
Instead of picking up in the very obvious clue to introduce herself, Tanny took a few looks at the group and seemed to think out loud.

"A pearl, high quality one, peculiar uniform and casual mannerisms indicate a lack of owner, or an incredible informal one. Planetary war background and body language indicating combat awareness makes the first option more likely."

Her gaze moved to Garnet, who had her hands on her hips, while Pearl and the others stared at her surprised.

"Unknown gem, looks big and strong enough to be a soldier but moves more akin to someone used to being in charge. An off color emerald general perhaps?"

It seems that after 5000 years alone, Tanny gained the habit to report things to herself out loud. The gems decided to humor her.

Gregg was next.

"Organic, advanced age. Don't know human lifespan yet but he seems between middle aged and no more than three thirds. Generic traits indicate he's the spawner of the organic Steven."

She definitely reminded Steven of Peridot. Gregg looked amused at the redundant way of calling him Steven's dad.

Finally she moved to Amethyst.

"Quartz soldier, defective one, most likely overcooked."

Amethyst rolled her eyes, here it goes again, a homeworld gem making fun of her. She was honestly pretty much over it, but man did it get annoying after a while.

"If my own defectiveness is any indication, there's a high possibility this has made her stronger than other quartz in some way."

This took her by surprise, first time a gem said that.

"Uh? What do you mean stronger? I got my ass kicked all the time. Specially by other quartz."

"My own deformation would qualify me as a defect by homeworld standards, but it had the side effect of making me more resistant to damage and poofing than any tanzanite has the right to be."

Amethyst looked dubious, Garnet raised one eyebrow at the revelation of this gem being a tanzanite, but Pearl had a calculating look on her face, while she quietly muttered to herself.

"Stars... So that's why, it makes so much sense!"

By now everyone was staring at Pearl, but she took no notice, already deep in what Amethyst called "full nerd mode".

"Uhhh Pearl what you talking about?"  
"Amethyst! That's why you are so efficient at reforming!"  
"Say whaaa-"  
"I admit I tend to... Take my time, when it comes to reforming. But I've never met another gem that can reform in less than a day, believe me I've poofed enough quartz in the war to know this. But you! You can take minutes with little to no side effects, and I think the literal longest you ever took was around five hours! That's still thrice as fast as normal."

Now Pearl had moved from full nerd mode, to full scholar mode, with fancy pacing and exaggerated hand gestures included.  
There was no way that pirouette was necessary.

"It's so logical, a gem usually quickly absorbs the necessary resources from the ground in a matter of years. But your gem, Amethyst, took a slow and steady drain for millennia."

Everyone followed Pearl with their eyes as she paced in front of the group.

"Being subjected to that state for thousands of years, your gem became optimal at storage and distribution of energy. Amethyst! You are most likely the fastest gem at reforming in the entire universe!"

Amethyst had a full combo of expressions, a mix of boredom and confusion at Pearl's long and nerdy explanation, fascination at learning something new about herself, and bashfulness at being called the best at something by Pearl.  
Both Steven, Garnet and Gregg looked happy for Amethyst, Connie looked heavily interested in learning more about gems in general, but Tanny was intensely staring at Pearl.  
Pearls weren't dull, by any stretch of the imagination, they had to be smart to properly learn their owners schedules and properly execute their commands. But the very few times she had come in contact with one, they were so... blank. Only speaking when talked to, never expressing passion or even interest for any subject.  
But this Pearl? first of all her reasoning was perfect, with a very solid theory and examples that supported it. Not only that, but her very elegant movements clearly showed her excitement for the discovery.  
Why did Tanny's face felt warm?

"Okay okay I get it! I'm awesome what's new." Everyone could see Amethyst's huge embarrassed smile, it was pretty obvious that she was feeling pretty happy with herself.

Garnet playfully ruffled her hair, which gave Tanny a chance to see the gem in her left palm, she still couldn't pinpoint what kind of gem she was.

"So who's the new gem anyway?"  
"Oh right, everyone, this is Tanny. She's one of the tanzanites we went to rescue! She decided to stay on Earth for the time being."

Everyone greeted her politely, Tanny could see no adverse reactions at her being an off color tanzanite. So far this place was definitely better than homeworld.  
The pretty Pearl was a bonus.

"Welcome to Earth." The tall one offered her right hand. A hand that had another gem on it.

Steven mistook Tanny's lack of movement for confusion at the gesture.

"Oh that's a handshake, we do it on Earth to welcome someone new! You are supposed to grab Garnet's hand with your own-"  
"You are a fusion."

With Tanny's natural neutral sounding voice, no one could really tell how she felt about that revelation.

"Are garnets a new type of gem developed in the last 5000 years that need a constant fusion?"

It seems Tanny was just honestly curious, that relaxed the group somewhat.  
But Garnet was even more curious about how she would react to her explanation. She raised her hands, palms facing tanzanite, so she could take a good luck at her two different gemstones.

"I am the fusion of a Ruby, and a Sapphire, who swore themselves to each other." Garnet's rings seemed to almost shine.

Tanny had an incredible shocked look on her face.  
Unknown to her, her reaction to Garnet was going to play a huge part in these gems treatment towards her for this point forward.

"A fusion... Of two different gems?."

Tanny sounded, honestly kind of fascinated by the news.

"The fusion of two different gems makes a new type of gem all together? Do you retain the skills and special abilities of your components? Are they subdued due the fusing, augmented or even replaced by completely new ones? Does a sapphire plus a ruby always make a garnet? What happens if you add another sapphire? Or another ruby?"

The group seemed to be quite happy with this reaction, honestly it reminded them a bit of Steven, except these were a bit better questions that "does one of you control the right arm and the other the left one?" For sure.  
Garnet chuckled at the new gem's enthusiasm.

"Fusion isn't something to measure, Tanny. Fusion is a choice, of two or more gems to trust each other, to share themselves with each other. Maybe one day you could even make that choice yourself."

Tanny seemed incredible taken back by that statement. Apparently the idea that she was capable of fusing never crossed her mind.  
That revelation was going to take some time to digest.

"Why don't you take Tanny around town , Steven? That way she can get a feeling for Earth."  
"That was the plan, what do you say Tanny?"

Tanny was just staring at her by now familiar purple gemstone. What color would it turn into if she fused? What kind of gem all together?

"Tanny?"  
"Yes. Let's go in this... Tour." She needed the distraction. And exploring her new surroundings will do nicely.

The group watched as the two teens guided the gem towards town center.

"So is anyone else weirded out that Steven meet someone new and they haven't tried to kill him yet?"  
"Amethyst!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i feel i should clarify this just in case, this is NOT going to be a ship fic, nor is Tanny gonna end up with Pearl at all, i simply wanted to write how she would react to having a crush for the first time, which is basically WHAT THE HECK IS THIS HOW DO I UNINSTALL IT (not much of that yet). okay that's all, sorry for the length inconsistency in chapters, and if you have any questions or just wanna tell me a part you enjoyed let me know!


	12. Let me show you the immediate vicinity

The town was... Interesting. This was going to be the case for pretty much everything in this planet, isn't it?

The human architecture was simple, but charming. The houses and buildings all similar but still unique, they reminded her a bit of her own towns.

But the interesting aspect was the population.

They where both organics, mostly humans, and gems just; together. Walking together, talking to each other.

Just... Interacting.

Uh.

That was... So weird. 

But that wasn't the only weird thing about these gems, all of them had... Irregularities, of one form or another.  
Some were subtle, others incredible obvious.

They didn't seem like just off colors, this was different. Splotches of different colors, small extra appendages, proportions all over the place.

What happened to these gems?

Horns, fangs... Claws.

They remind her of herself.

"Is this the result of the... Corruption, you called it?"

Steven waved at the nephrites as they walked by.

"Yeah, we were able to heal their minds, but... Well sometimes healing can leave scars behind."

Tanny just hummed in response,the whole premise of corruption was very interesting to her, the way Steven described it, it sounded like gems mannerisms became almost feral in nature.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a very loud, repetitive and annoying sound.

"Woah! Easy there bud! Sorry Steven I don't know what's gotten into him."

One of the local humans was holding tight to a leash tied to a four legged organic.

"Hey Bill, is your dog okay? I've never seen him so... Aggressive."

The dog was not only barking like mad, but also constantly fighting his owner's hold, to try and launch himself toward Steven's group. Or more accurately, towards Tanny.

"I've been surrounded by hundreds of predators unknown to it's ecosystem for centuries, it's probably reacting aggressively towards their scent."

Tanny took a couple of steps closer to the trashing animal, who became more violent in response, much to Steven's discomfort. Tanny getting attacked by a German Shepherd was not a good tour start.

"Organic of feral nature, domesticated. Skull formation indicates predatory origins. Teeth shows evolutionary adaptation from carnivore to omnivore. Most likely pack hunters."

The dog owner was trying to put some distance between the dog and Steven's weird purple friend.

"I wonder if it shares mannerisms with the specimens from my planet."

With a mighty tug the latch of the leash broke, and the dog raced towards Tanny.

Steven was about to encase them in a bubble, but Tanny simply widened her stance, drew her head back as if taking a deep breath, and screamed.

Except it wasn't only a scream, it was a roar, a screech, and a wail all mashed together into one of the loudest and most chilling noises Steven ever heard.

It wasn't an attack like Lion's roar, this was for all intends and purpose just a loud noise, but it still not only stopped the dog in it's tracks, but had it running back and hiding behind his owner, it's ears lowered and it's tail between it's legs. Poor thing was shaking and whining in fear.

After a whole 3 seconds Tanny stopped, and calmly stood straight again.

"Earth feral organics show the same aversion towards loud and low frequency noises than my own."

The other guy hurriedly picked up his dog and ran away from the crazy woman. He should know better than approach Steven when he's with someone new.

Meanwhile Connie and Steven were gently massaging their ears, that was very loud. They were happy neither Tanny nor the dog injured the other, but maybe they should had started the tour in the less habituated areas first.

Luckily, the tour continued without further incident. They introduced Tanny to a few citizens and gems, not that she seemed to care much. She did show an interest in the different types of Earth food, showing some preferences to some and just spitting out others. Steven had to taught her that was rude.

Tanny also seemed to ignore others attempts at conversation unless it involved something she wanted to know. Considering how she constantly asked every food vendors the process to making their food, Steven was planning to introduce her to cooking later.

In fact, in the way back Connie had an idea, when she shared it with Steven he quickly agreed.

So instead of heading straight back home, they took a detour to visit one of Connie and Steven's favorite places.

"And this, is a library!"

While the teens looked exited about the place, Tanny didn't show much interest in the medium sized building.

"It's a building full of... Rectangles."

"These are books!"

"What's a book?"

"Oh, right. Here let me show you." Steven walked Tanny towards one of the shelves, and pulled out one of those so called books.

"This is basically how humans store written knowledge, and even if we now have digital formats like gems do, they are still very popular." Tanny seemed interested in Connie's explanation, specially the part about stored knowledge.

"See? Here. This is a cooking book. Whenever this author found a method of cooking and combining food that tasted good, they wrote it down here "

Tanny took the so called book from Steven. It was pretty basic, material wise. Lots of small paper pages binded together to what appeared to be some sort of hard leather cover.

On the inside there were a few pictures of what Tanny assumed to be food, followed by lots of text.

Human text.  
Which Tanny had absolutely no clue how to make sense of.

"I can't read this."

Steven and Connie's faces fell. They sorta forgot that detail.

"Oh. Right. Uh, shoot I didn't thought of that. Um, I guess we could teach you to read?" The combination of Steven's dubious voice and Connie's incredulous stare made it pretty obvious that was not going to work. At least not in a single afternoon.

"Sorry Tanny, I guess I can ask the other gems to teach you, or maybe Peridot could come up with a translation thingie machine?"

Tanny simply put the book back in it's proper place.

"If I learned how to make clay bricks with nothing but trial and error, I can learn the human written language too. Specially with assistance, as you suggest.  
These books will remain here for a while, yes?"

"Oh totally don't worry about that! These books had been here for decades and will stay here for even more. So no hurry."

She took a look around the library.  
They were thousands of books here.  
That's a lot of information. A lot of data.

"Then I'll be back." Tanny had no idea why the two teens found that funny enough to repress a chuckle. Likewise, Steven and Connie had no idea how to explain to Tanny how her monotone voice and bored borderline blank expression combined perfectly with that quote.

They suddenly had an urge to convince Tanny to wear sunglasses.

The group left the library and made their way back to the temple, Connie was going to travel back home via Lion, who will either sleep at her house (much to Dr. Maheswaran's chagrin), or portal himself back. 

Steven didn't really had a plan for Tanny though, the beach house didn't exactly had a guest room.

And he didn't really felt like having another gem crash in his bathroom for weeks. Again.

In the end he didn't had to worry about it, Tanny wanted to explore the immediate area around the temple, she didn't feel like sleeping tonight.

After making sure that Tanny wouldn't get too far, Steven wished her a goodnight, and went to bed.

It sure was a nice change of pace to have a new gem travel to earth basically just for tourism instead of seeking revenge.


	13. It takes one to panic.

It was almost off-putting, to stare at the night sky only to see completely different star formations.

Tanzanite, Tanny, wasn't sure what to do now. From a completely explored almost empty planet, suddenly dropped into an unknown one fill to the brim with not only unfamiliar species and terrain, but numerous cultures of its own.  
Even if she couldn't make sense of the words (yet), Tanny was pretty sure each picture in that cooking book corresponded to a different recipe, and they were dozens in that single book.  
And that library had thousands of books of hundreds of topics.  
If that massive amount of information could be found in a single building, just how much was through the entire planet? 

Tanny could probably explore it for thrice the time she spent in her own planet and still not find all of it.  
The prospect was... Almost overbearing.  
But just as exciting none the less.

But just as a starving man who suddenly finds himself in front of a buffet, Tanny did not know where to begin.

This area was... Pleasant enough. But it felt too crowded. Both by humans and gems alike. Sure, it was nice to have access to gem culture and technology again, but dealing with the gems themselves... Well, she was a tanzanite. Other gems either didn't know she existed, didn't care that she existed, or get angry that she didn't exist in the way she was supposed to.  
Tanny liked making decisions for herself. Having someone to tell her what to do and what not to do will quickly get on her nerves.  
But was it wise to just go to an unknown random area with no means of contacting the new empire? Sure, she didn't care much for them, but it would certainly be a nice change of pace to have someone to call for aid in the event of a emergency.

In the end it took Tanny all night long to make a decision. 

Next morning Steven found her sitting cross legged on the sand, about halfway between the house and the shore.

"Morning Tanny! Want some breakfast-"  
"I'm going to leave."  
"Woah! Is okay if you don't like breakfast, we can have an early brunch instead."

Even if she had no idea what this breakfast or brunch were, Tanny could tell by his voice that Steven was joking, she didn't turn to look at him but she could see out the corner of her eye when he sat down next to her.

"So, you are gonna leave?"  
"Yes. I want to explore more of this planet. But this place is too... Loud. Too busy, to be a starting point."  
"Hey it's okay, you enjoy your privacy ,I understand that. So what's your plan?"  
"I'm not sure. My first choice would be to visit a non habituated area. But I realize that going somewhere completely unconnected to you and the other gems in the planet would be unwise in case of an emergency."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, just thinking.

"So somewhere with little to no people, but accessible enough you can get help if needed."  
"That would be the best scenario, yes."

Steven hummed, trying to come up with a solution.

"Steven! There you are, your waffles are getting cold, not to mention Amethyst will try to steal them any second now. Hello Tanny."  
"Oh hi Pearl."

Steven did not notice Tanny flinching at Pearl's voice, nor her sudden tense body.

Tanny's way of returning the greeting was to jerkily nod her head once.  
She didn't know why this pearl's proximity affected her so, the way she became so nervous and tense didn't make sense. Did she felt threatened by the other gem? Not likely, she knew how fear felt like and though similar, this feeling was definitely different.

"Its okay she can have them, I'm too busy trying to think to properly appreciate hot waffles anyway."  
"It's something the matter?" 

Steven explained the situation to Pearl, who seemed to quickly come up with a solution.

"Well, most of them might not be in the... Best of conditions, but there are dozens of gem structures scattered around the planet. They would provide Tanny with plenty of research and solicitude, while still being only a warp away in case of her needing or wanting to contact us."

Tanny was once again impressed by the Pearl's clear and efficient train of thought, she wondered if this pearl enjoyed resolving problems just as much as she did.  
She was also impressed by the holographic world map projecting from her gem. It had markers for each gem made structures, they were fifty or so scattered all through the continents. She was right, they would be an ideal starting point.  
Tanny stared intensely at Pearl's projection, quickly memorizing the location of every warp pad. Even if she's never traveled to those places before, she should be able to correctly choose what location to land on based on their distance and positioning regarding each other.

In theory at least.

And if that doesn't work she'll just warp to random locations until finding a new one.

"I do advice avoiding these ones for the time being, they are heavily damaged and barely standing at all, they would be too dangerous to explore alone."

Tanny made a mental note of the 4 locations that got crossed over in the projection. 

"I'm not exactly a fan of collapsing terrain. I'll keep away from those. Thanks."  
"You are very welcome." Pearl was pleased they were homeworld gems that could say a sincere thanks to a pearl. She was curious as to why the tanzanite didn't seem able to meet her eyes, maybe she simply wasn't used to the idea of an owner-less pearl as much as she thought.

"I see you are getting ready to leave."

The three turned their heads towards the house, where Garnet was making her way out of and towards them.  
Tanny involuntarily stared at her hands as she walked. She was still fascinated by the prospect of fusion.  
That would be one experiment she couldn't do in a area empty of other gems.

"Yeah, Pearl was showing Tanny some places to tour."  
"Will you be leaving today, Tanny?" The fusion asked with a relaxed smile.

Tanny didn't reply, instead staring at her shoulder, her gemstone. She saw it change color and properties once, would a second time feel the same? She knew fusion wasn't permanent, unless the fusion herself choose to, apparently.

"Tanny? You okay?"

She ignored Steven's question.  
Fusion, logically speaking, was just a matter of instead of a single gem projecting a hard light body, two gems providing the energy to sustain a bigger, more powerful body. But how would it affect the mind of said gems?

"Tanny?"  
"You want to try fusion before leaving."

Everyone, including Tanny, looked at garnet with shock on their faces.

"What? Oh, of course. A sapphire's foresight seems to be passed onto a garnet." 

Tanny seemed nervous, but determined.

"Yes. I want to try it."  
"Are you sure? Fusion can be pretty overbearing the first time." Steven's concern was appreciated.  
"Not to mention, the reason to fuse can be just as important as the fusion itself, why do you want to fuse, Tanny?" Pearl added in a gentle voice.

Tanny stared at her hands. Her claws.

"Mostly sheer curiosity, but also... Because I'm not supposed to."

Her reply confused the crystal gems.

"I'm made to just sit in place and follow orders. I'm not built to climb. But I did it. I'm not built to craft, to invent, to attack or to defend myself. But I learnt to anyway.   
Proving to myself that I can do more than what I was made for makes me feel... Happy. And tanzanites should never need to fuse, what would be the point? Filling a bigger cockpit? No.  
I want to prove it. I'm more that what they made me for."

That line heavily resonated with Pearl. All gems were made to serve, in one way or another. But some truly had less freedom than others.

"Then let's do it." 

Tanny flinched at Garnet's nonchalant suggestion.

"I don't know, I can barely wrap my head about how two gems combine. I'm not sure it would be wise to dive headfirst into a triple fusion."  
"She does make a good point, Garnet."

Pearl got up from the ground, dainty brushing the sand of her pants, and offered her hand to Tanny.

"So I suppose you will have to make do with me." 

If Tanny was surprised at Garnet's offer, she was shocked to her core at Pearl's.

"Whu- wah?" Yes Tanny good, very eloquent there.

Steven was just as shocked as Tanny, Pearl was not really the type to just willingly fuse with practically a stranger. Well to be fair, none of the gems were, but specially Pearl. Though lately she had been relaxing some more about the prospect of connecting with others. She and Amethyst now formed opal at least once a month just to play bass-drums duets.

Tanny was staring at Pearl's hand as if it was a snake about to strike her.  
This seemed to lower Pearl's optimism.

"Or maybe we can look for someone else-"  
"No! I mean, no, this is fine. Yes." Tanny was nervous, her first attempt at fusion was a serious deal. That didn't explain or justified the intense blush on her face.

She very slowly grabbed Pearl's hand with her own. Steven had to stifle a chuckle at Tanny's completely tense posture. She looked tense enough to just snap in half any second now.  
After almost 30 second of them just holding hands, Tanny blurted out.

"I have no idea what to do."

Pearl just smiled patiently, and gently guided her a couple of steps away from the other two, to give themselves a bit more of room to maneuver.

"Well a first good step is to relax, the best way to fuse is to synchronize with each other, which can be pretty hard to achieve in tense situations. Close your eyes, and think of something that relaxes you, that brings you peace."

Tanny did as told, closing her eyes and trying to focus, which was pretty hard to do with Pearl still holding her hand.  
But what to think, what to picture. What relaxed Tanny? Something that she was very familiar with, but that she didn't found repetitive or boring. When was she the most relaxed?  
Carving.  
She relaxed completely when carving, carving knifes, tools, or just small figurines. It was one of the first skills she learned. The first one she mastered.

Unknowingly to Tanny, her gem started to emit a soft glow, and she was no longer just standing in place. Pearl was gently guiding her movements, and with a sudden dip, they started to fuse.

It was slow, their bodies first turning into light, and very slowly melding together, the fusion started to form, it's size not massive but still taller than both Pearl and Tanny, her shape started to solidify, Steven could see she was going to have four arms, then she opened her eyes.

Then she started to scream.

"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!!"

With a violent pulse of light the two gems where split apart and throw away from each other, Pearl being able to land on her feet if a bit disoriented, and Tanny just painfully bouncing of the sand.

"Pearl! Tanny! Are you guys okay-WOAH!"

Steven approached Tanny, who had landed closer to him, when she suddenly jumped to her feet, knife in hand, wildly waving it around herself as she breathed hard, a panicked look on her face.  
Pearl was holding her head as if she had a migraine.

"Woah Tanny, is okay. Take a deep breath, is okay. Fusion can be very jarring the first time, just try to relax."

Tanny was breathing heavily, her eyes darting around as she tried to calm herself. She took her knife and pressed the end of the handle against her chest, gently dragging it upwards with each inhale, and down with each exhale.  
It reminded Steven of the meditation techniques that Garnet taught Connie and him.  
Apparently Tanny had found her own ways to come down from panic.

"I don't..." Tanny's voice was slightly ragged.  
"I don't like fusion."

Without another word she turned around and walked inside the house, they saw the light of the warp pad activating right after.  
Steven approached Pearl, who was leaning against Garnet.

"Are you okay Pearl?"  
"Yes, yes I'm okay Steven, don't worry. Just a little... Shaken, that's all."   
"What happened? It's seemed fine at first."  
"It was! Our bodies merged without any trouble, but as soon as our minds started to connect... Well, it was like driving into a wall."

Pearl took a second to straighten herself, and looked towards the house with a worried expression.

"After being alone through basically her entire existence, I don't think she understands the concept of sharing her thoughts with someone else."


	14. This planet just keeps getting weirder and weirder

Tanny landed quite heavily on the warp pad, she had no idea where she was, she warped with no destination in mind other than "far away from the beach base".  
That was... And unpleasant experience.  
If she had to describe it, it was like a squirming organic covered in spines cracked open her gem and tried to burrow it's way inside.

She holds her head in pain and grits her teeth.

It was so much. Too much.

So loud.

\---

I kneed in the warp pad for a few minutes, trying to calm down.

Is that what fusion feels like? So... Crowded, so claustrophobic?  
How could Garnet stand it?

No, that wasn't it. She and Steven seemed as surprised as me.  
That's obviously not how it's supposed to go.

Maybe fusion really is out of a tanzanite's reach.

After a couple more deep breaths, I take a look around my new surroundings.  
It's... Fruity.

I'm in the middle of a field just, overrun by red fruits. Some as small as a pebble, others bigger than my head.  
I walk off the warp pad to try some, taking a bite off a fist sized one, both out of curiosity for the taste and to get my mind out of my failed attempt at fusion.  
The flavor was pleasantly sweet, but the seeds added a slightly uncomfortable texture. Still, not bad.

Upon closer inspection, fruits weren't the only thing scattered all over the field.

Weapons.  
Gem weapons, to be exact.  
Not the hard light type, just traditional forged weapons, supplied to soldiers in times of war.

Right, the war. This must be one of Earth's numerous battlefields.  
It wasn't exactly... Comfortable, to stand around a place where hundreds of gems shattered each other.  
I vaguely remember that war scarred planet I landed on millennia ago. I remember thinking organics were stupid for senselessly destroying each other. Seems organics aren't the only stupid ones.

The fruit aftertaste suddenly turned bitter. No, this wasn't a good first place to explore.

I make my way back to the pad, but there's a problem now. Since I just warped randomly, I'm not exactly sure in what part of the planet am I, I suppose my best bet is going to be to just randomly warp around.  
I give the warp no further command than "not the beach base" and off I go.

\---

I... Wow.

I've never thought I'd see one of these again.

A kindergarten.

This one looks nothing like mine though. Even though I've was only in mine for a few hours, I remember it clearly. The grey yellowish rocky walls, the injectors, the exit holes.  
The other tanzanites.  
These injectors were different. Bigger, and more numerous. Which would explain the massive amount of exit holes in the reddish orange walls. 

This kindergarten was big. Much, much bigger than a tanzanite one.

But something was... Off.

I step down from the pad and walk for a while, until I stand in front of a mostly flat wall with a few dozen holes.  
That's what's wrong.  
I remember our exit holes. All uniformed, lined up properly, with the most efficient space left between each.  
All of these were so... Crooked.  
Not to mention the size differences.  
Now that I think about it, the injectors themselves seem to be just... Scattered around, as if done in a hurry.

One could easily argue that a kindergarten was one if not the most important of gem's installations. So why was this one so poorly made? The peridot in charge must have been in a huge rush.  
A rush... To produce gems. Thousand of gems, and by these injectors looks a few good millennia ago or so.  
Soldiers.  
This kindergarten was made to produce more soldier to fight off the rebellion.

It's going to be hard to find a place with no connection to the war, isn't it?

Might as well make my way back, try to find another place. Besides, it's impossible for any kind of organic life to survive in a kindergarten, so it's not like I'll have anything new to study here.

_*SCREEEECH*_

Or maybe I do. What in the void was that noise?  
Actually, that was clearly a warning shout, most likely the kind a territorial animal uses to scare away potential invaders.  
So more accurately, where in the void did that noise came from?

I walk towards were the noise seemed to originate from, the canyon walls giving plenty of echo to guide me, while summoning a knife. No reason to wait till I'll need it.  
This kindergarten truly is a mess. It's shape so poorly excavated that the walls could become narrow and curved alleyways instead of clear open spaces.

I can hear signs of struggle now. Animals fighting for food? But why would they be all the way here, where no plant nor prey should be able to thrive?  
Has this planet somehow managed to create lifeforms adapted to survive in the aftermath of a kindergarten?  
The sound is closer now, I carefully climb a huge boulder and quietly rest on top of it, finally getting a good look at these animals.

Except they are no animals at all.

They're gems.  
Or... Something gem like.  
What is wrong with this planet?!

Okay, these... Gems, and I'm using the term lightly, are just completely... Malformed? I suppose?

This doesn't resembles the corruption that Steven talked about.  
All of them look like a mishap of limbs and shapes and colors. 

Some moved on multiple limbs, others crawled, one even just, dragged herself with a ridiculously long tongue.  
I can count at least 6 different ones, they seem to be fighting each other, although with no real strategy or even apparent reason.

All of their movements and noises indicated... A feral nature.

Just... What are these gems?

I think I've found my next project.


	15. And the winner is

I have decided to name these gems "off mold" due to their unique appearance.

I've been observing them for the past week, from afar and with no direct interaction.  
Most of them seems to have made their homes in random exit holes. At first I theorized they could be draw to their original exit holes, assuming these gems came from holes, but that theory proved incorrect when I saw they tend to switch to a random hole after a few days or even just a few hours.

Their cognitive ability is also a mystery. They don't act as feral animals, as I first suspected. Instead some just sat still for days on end, others move either in completely random directions or a repetitive route. The fighting seems random as well.   
From time to time, when two of the off mold get too close to each other, they simple start attacking each other, which in turn attracts the other nearby ones and turns it into a free for all brawl.  
But just as curious, after a couple of minutes fighting they just... Lose interest, and go back to their previous activities.

It's also worth noting that sometimes a few of the off molds just wander off to different areas of the kindergarten, or away all together. Just the same, a few new ones approach from afar and remain in this area.

The way some of them moved, their repetitive paths and routes, felt so... Familiar.  
It hit me at once, they are search grids.   
Incredible messy, inefficient and down right useless search grids, but grids none the less.  
These off molds, they are searching for something.

But what?

\---

Its been around three weeks now, and I can say with certainty that I know about 80% of the off molds of this kindergarten. Very rarely one that I haven't seen before appears.

Today I had the first chance to inspect one of them. Another brawl broke out, but this time one of them got hit hard enough to be sent flying into a boulder not too far from me, and luckily, the ones fighting it seem to have lost all interest in it.  
I sneakily approach the dazzled off mold and stab it in what could be called it's head, poofing it instantly. I snatch the gem as soon as it hits the ground and run away from the others, in case they noticed.  
They either didn't saw the poofing, or didn't care at all, but I'm now quite far from them, closer to the warp pad, just in case.  
I finally inspect the gem in my hand, and almost throw it to the ground when I get a good look at it.

That... That's not a gem. What the void is this thing.  
Stars... They are... These are shards. Gem shards, just... Welded together.

I sit if not just fall to the ground, feeling... Sick honestly.  
I can't even tell what these two gems used to be. If they're even only two.  
At least two different kind of gems. Just, crushed together. 

Like... Like fusion.

A planet wide war that was only getting more out of hand. Number of rebels growing exponentially. A supposed shattered Diamond. A hurry to produce more soldiers. Numerous casualties from both sides. Resources getting too low.  
These... These are fusion experiments. Almost certainly created by the shards of those fallen in the war, both rebels and homeworld soldiers more likely.

A way to supply more soldiers without the need of creating more gems.

Recycling the dead. It makes sense from a strategic point of view. Even I had tried to combine different organics just to see if I could get a new one with the best characteristics of those used. But I just tried to make them breed. This is like... Chopping them to pieces, sewing them together, and expect them to be just fine.

That's why these gems behavior was so erratic, their minds are just as fractured as themselves.  
These gems are already dead.

\---

I had to return the gem, gems... I had to return the off mold to where I picked her up. I have no idea how fast these can reform and I'll rather not happen while I'm still holding her.

If fusion felt so horrible for me, what these gems must be feeling is likely a thousand times worse.  
I remember Pearl's advice, that we needed to "synchronize". It would make sense that two gems fused against their will would have such chaotic shapes.  
In fact now that I think about it, from all the off molds the less... Feral and aggressive ones, are those with more of a traditional silhouette. These particular gems were most likely more compatible, or perhaps more open to the idea of fusion in general.

After some thought, I have deducted that the reason most of them seem to move in a search grid, must be to try and find the rest of their shards.  
An instinctual need to be whole again makes them search. But the lack of a clear mind makes them not realize neither how futile the search is nor how to even do it properly.

... Steven said, that healing could leave scars behind. Even if it is impossible to return these gems to their previous selves, could it be possible to heal, to assist them in some way?  
If their mental capacity had been, reduced, so to speak, could they be taught? Guided?

This merits more thought.

\---

If I'm going to try an... Reeducate one of these gems, so to speak, I'll have to be careful about it.  
But I should be able to implement some of the methods I've learned from taming my animals.

First, choose a candidate. The less aggressive the best. If my previous observation is accurate, I could search for one with mostly regular body shape.  
Second, once a candidate has been chosen, find a way to seclude her. Poofing her could be an option, but it could also lead to the gem in question to perceive all my future intentions as hostile.  
Third, move the candidate to a secluded, controlled area. One that gives me the advantage in case violence ensues.

Now... Who to choose.  
I have stolen Steven's method of identifying unknown gems, and have now three possible candidates.

Candidate one: Many legs.  
Candidate two: No head.  
Candidate three: Big arm.

I'm not as... Imaginative as Steven. Though thinking back on "Sandy", "Drippy" and "Sunny" maybe I'm not too far off.

These three were the ones that showed the best capacity to learn. I tested this by leaving slightly big rocks in the middle of all the regular paths the off molds took almost daily.  
From the current eight living in this area, those three were the only ones who simply walked around the rock instead of making a big fuzz after tripping on it. Well Big arm did turn back to crush it with a punch, so she gets minus points for it.  
I'm still not sure which of them to choose. I suppose it can simply be the one I manage to isolate first.

I have to be careful on how to do it. I have learned that these gems react negatively to anything remotely new, if one of them draw the other's attention to me it will end badly.  
So of course the day I'm going to try to separate them something new happens.

A new off mold stumbled into this area. Literally, she seemed to stumble and almost trip every couple of steps, her movements almost jerky sometimes.  
She looked mostly stable, form wise. Two legs, one ending abruptly in a stump like ankle, the other with a very long and thin foot. She was tall too, almost twice as me.

The other off molds don't seem to like her much, some already making warning noises, but not moving to attack her.

Oh stars, she just tripped into Big arm.   
This is definitely going to start another brawl.  
And there goes Big arm with her signature "punch it until it's gone" move.

Woah.

Did, did she just dodge that? Or was that a lucky backwards tripping?  
Oh no she definitely dodged it. And again. And the other two attacks directed at her back. Simultaneously.  
She's incredible, her movements are nothing like before, now it was so elegant, so fluid and precise.

So graceful.

So far not only has she evaded every single attack, but also administered some of her own, sharp and powerful kicks that violently threw her opponents away from her.  
Her movements remind me of Pearl, specially when she pirouettes in place like that.

Did she just... She just stabbed No head in the torso. With her leg. And poof goes No head.  
And three other off molds as well, including Big arm.  
The remaining four seem to have grasped the fact they are no match for this gem, and leave the area.

She just single handedly took on eight opponents.

This one is really dangerous.  
... But also, showed signs of a clever mind. I think I got my candidate.  
But I have to be extra careful not to approach her until I'm sure she won't attack me.

... She just tripped again.  
And now she doesn't seem able to get up on her own.

So much for all that grace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, pretty exited about finally reaching this part of the story, unfortunately from here on forward updates are going to be pretty slower than until this point, but i'll try to keep writing more. Anyway, please tell me your thoughts so far! and feel free to ask any questions


	16. What a drag

She's been on the ground for over an hour now. She stopped trying to get up after twenty minutes or so but now she's simply bending and stretching her legs to drag herself around, like some sort of caterpillar.  
This could work in my favor. Even if she reacts negatively to my presence, it should take her some time to get up to attack me. In theory.

I leave my current hideout and slowly approach her, making sure that my footsteps are loud enough so that my presence won't startle her.  
I stop about ten meters away from her, if her fighting style consisted on close combat, mostly kicks, like I observed before this should give me enough time to retreat.

She doesn't seem to have realized I'm here yet.  
I give a short not too sharp whistle, loud enough to catch her attention.

It works, she twist herself so that her... Head, is facing me.  
Most of her head is covered by her disproportionately big hand, protruding from a very long arm that seems to wrap numerous times around her torso, hard to tell how long it is, or if she can even unwrap it.   
I can barely see two eyes peeking from between the fingers, each one a different color and size.

She's staring right at me.

... Well, after a solid minute of staring at each other she hasn't show any signs of hostility to my presence.  
Good.  
Now, I know different methods work for different species, but the first step can always be translated to make them used to you being around.

Without breaking eye contact I slowly sit on the ground, my posture misguidedly relaxed when in reality I could bolt away in a second if needed.  
After making myself comfortable, I move my gaze away from the off mold and into a random direction, making sure to keep her in my peripheral vision.  
Lots of animals can perceive unbroken eye contact as a challenge, glad this wasn't the case.  
After twenty minutes or so she stops staring at me, and continues to drag herself around in a seemingly random path. I subtly change my position to be able to keep her in my sight.

We kept doing that for two days.

\---

No other off molds have wandered back into this area yet, to my relief. I'm glad I was able to pick up the gems of those that got poofed a few days ago, and moved them away while my candidate was distracted. Wouldn't want them to reform here and start a brawl all over again.

The gem, whose name I haven't decided yet, still hasn't gotten back to her feet... Foot? Back on her legs.  
Her method of movement varied between dragging and rolling herself, which of course leads her to constantly bump into boulders, but she didn't seem to mind.  
From time to time she just stops and stares at me. Maybe waiting for me to do something? But then goes back to ignoring me.

... Hand face? Twisted? Stab leg? None of these names sound appropriate. I'm going to keep working on it.

\---

This... Could turn badly.

I admittedly got distracted, staring at some of the crooked exit holes, and wherever it was coincidence or intentional, the off mold bumped into me the same way she's been bumping into rocks in her path.  
I froze, and so did she. This is already different from her regular behavior, usually after bumping into a boulder she would wriggle until finding a clear path again, can she tell she has come in contact with another gem? Or is merely the difference between how me and a rock feels texture wise that gives her pause?  
Her head is pressed against my side, and over my hand. This would make impossible for me to reach for my knife without her noticing.

Although... This could be an opportunity.

After all I want her to feel comfortable in my presence, but even so, do I just stay still until she moves? Or do I try to move first?  
Or... I could try something else. Something that doesn't involve moving.

I quietly and cautiously start humming. A single constant note, to gouge her reaction. I remember doing this centuries ago, when figuring out what frequencies the organics of my planet best responded to.  
Of course that when I tried it with organics, they were either leashed or contained a safe distance from me in case they reacted violently, and not almost LYING ON MY LAP.  
She doesn't seem to mind. Or react at all. I change the tone slightly, trying to imitate some of the melodies I had hear from organics in my planet. Birds were specially fond of music.

And it seems she's as well.  
Her body loses tension, and her eyes slowly close. Her one foot seemed to sway in time with my humming.

This is definitely a good start.

\---

After a few more days of... Bonding, I suppose I can call it, she (blue-orange? Pirouette? Stumbles? Trippy?) Finally showed signs of annoyance at not being able to stand up. Her wriggling became more frantic and she seemed to almost kick the ground in frustration.

... Here goes hopping she likes my humming enough to not kick/stab me.  
I approach until I'm standing next to her, which makes her freeze and stare at me. She did that a lot, staring. But to be fair, so did I.

Now, how to go about picking her up.  
My first instinct is to simple grab her by the shoulders and straight her up, but as soon as I point my hands at her, she raised her pointy foot in a clearly threatening gesture. Okay, no grabbing her.  
I very deliberately take a step back, showing her I respect her non verbal request of no contact. She relaxes as soon as I do so.

Mhmm, how to pick her up while keeping my distance. If they were any vegetation nearby I could easily braid a rope, but this being a kindergarten I know I'm not going to find any.  
But even if I did... She's not frustrated because she's still on the ground. She's frustrated because she still hasn't been able to _pick herself up. _It seems we both hate the feeling of being useless.__

__She's smart. I know she is._ _

__There's a pretty big rock not to far from us, yeah, this could work.  
I lie down on the ground next to her, close enough so she can see all my movements. I tap the ground a couple of times to make sure her eyes are on me, and very slowly flex my legs, bringing my feet close to my body, then planting them firmly in the ground while stretching my legs, effectively dragging myself backwards towards the rock I saw before.  
I have to wriggle back and repeat this a few times until she understands I want her to do the same, but she eventually does.  
Good, I keep dragging myself towards the rock, stopping until she copies me, then repeating the process.  
Until we both reach the rock, is wide enough that both of our heads are now pressed against it, almost like a very uncomfortable pillow._ _

__This is going to be slightly trickier for her to copy._ _

__Making sure she's still looking at me, I prepare my legs to drag me again, but this time I bend my torso forward just before stretching, making my back come in contact with the rock. Now I'm pretty much sitting instead of laying down.  
It takes her a lot of tries to properly coordinate when to raise her head and when to stretch her legs, she even bangs her head against the rock a few times, but luckily not too hard. Until she finally gets it.  
Now we are both sitting side to side._ _

__This time she keeps staring at me without me having to call for her attention._ _

__Now for the next part, I still make sure to not use my arms at all, to show her she can do it too. I flex my legs again, and with my back I apply pressure to the rock behind me, slowly dragging myself upwards until I'm standing on my own.  
She has a lot of trouble trying to mimic this. It seems her balance is easily thrown off. She falls off the rock completely a few times, but she's able to get herself against it without me having to show her how each time. Until finally, with her legs a bit shaky, she stands again._ _

__And woah._ _

__I... I forgot how tall she is. Even while curving forward (she doesn't have the best posture) she still had three, almost four heads on me.  
We are also standing very close._ _

__And since she hasn't kick/stabbed me yet, I'm going to count this as a good sign._ _


	17. Drop and roll

It seems she (I will come out with an adequate name eventually) has no problem with contact as long as she's the one starting it.  
In other words she keeps headbutting me.

Not hard enough to be considered an attack, her intentions are... Confusing, to say the least. She doesn't seem to be trying to guide me in any particular direction, nor bring my attention to something in the area.

Maybe she just... Enjoys doing it? Or perhaps she's just reassuring herself I'm still here? Now that I think about it, I should perform some simple tests to determine the performance of her senses. I already know she can see and hear me, but perhaps she's nearsighted?

She also doesn't seem to be able to talk. Well, none of the off molds could talk as far as I could tell, but most were able to produce noises like grunts and shouts.   
Even those with no apparent mouth.

But she hasn't made a single noise so far.  
That's one of the oddities that separates her from the other off molds.  
Another one is that I can't find her gem.

I have noticed a few of the other off molds having their gem placed on unorthodox places, like the soles of their feet or inside their mouths. But I can't find her's anywhere. I guess it could be located inside her body? I've never seen such gem placement but I suppose it could be possible.

I wonder what they are.

What... Who she used to be.

-~w~-

It was bound to happen eventually, other off molds were approaching our area, I can see them in the distance. I think we have... Ten minutes until they reach us, fifteen top. I tried to guide her away from here, but she wasn't particularly easy to herd.

I wish they would had taken a few more days to try and reclaim this area, I wanted her to be more trusting of me before attempting to warp together.

After all a kindergarten was definitely not a good place to try and educate someone. Too few stimuli.

Even though I remember how great of a fighter she was (perhaps one of her components was a quartz?) I would rather avoid a confrontation all together.

Well, I suppose I haven't tried to be the one initiating contact in some time. Hopefully she'll react better than when I was trying to pick her up.

I deliberately slowly grab hold of some of the greyish cloth like material that seems to be tangled between her long arm and her body, I'm still not sure if this material is part of her hard light body, or if it's some random fabric of human origin that she somehow came in contact with.

She looks down at me, but doesn't seem to oppose the contact.

Good.

I take a few steps in the warp pad's general direction, and she follows! Good, this is good. Now we just have to keep- oh stars damnit. The other off molds spotted us. And by the way No-head screeched and started charging, she's definitely not happy with us. Or more likely, not happy with my still unnamed companion after she poofed her.

I try to hurry her along to the warp pad, but she either doesn't notice my urgency, or doesn't care.

Damn, I didn't want to fight them. Both because I didn't want them to have a negative first impression of me, in case I'll try to reeducate them later, and because even though I'm almost sure we could take them down, I can't forget these are gems, there's no telling what kind of abilities they could have.

No-head is just a few meters from us, might as well pull out my weapon now-woah!

In a single move, my companion hooked her no footed leg around my waist, and pirouetted in such a way I ended up behind her.

Is she... Is she protecting me?

Okay I'll analyze that later after I'm done with tongue-for-legs attacking me from the side.

Damn I can barely dodge her pouncing. Apparently her method of attack is to simply throw herself to an opponent to pin them down, and since my partner seems to be pretty occupied with No-head and two other off molds, I should not count on her assistance for the time being.

Not only I'm extremely out of practice (I haven't had to fight off an organic in centuries.) But I'm also not used to fight against gems.

Finally I'm able to put enough distance between us to summon my knife  
Now I just have to wait for her next pounce and- damn it! I was so focused on her I didn't notice the other one sneaking behind me.

Now this brings back memories.

Me, pinned to the ground by a creature trying to bite my head off.  
I guess I could apply the same solution from the first time- SWEET STARS.

I stare at the very close to my face, very pointy end of my (I hope still) ally's foot protruding from my attacker's mouth. And by it's angle I assume coming through her nape. And poof she goes.

There she is, standing in front of me, body lowered and leg extended, I can see No-head and the other's gems laying in the ground behind her.

In an incredible fluid movement, that I'm only barely able to follow, she jumps over me, rolls in the air, and blocks an attack from my first opponent with her stump leg.

Next she drops herself to the ground, and spins her legs for momentum, somehow spinning herself on her back in place to connect three consecutive kicks to the pouncing off mold. The first two kicks with her stump, breaking her defense, and the last one with her pointy one, stabbing her in the side.

And with that last poof, we are the only ones left unharmed.

She follows up her spinning until she somehow ends up gently pirouetting in place.  
I almost forgot how graceful she was.  
Uh, graceful.

"Thank you... Grace."

Her response is to gently headbutt me again.  
I think she likes it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally Grace gets a proper introduction. Not gonna lie this character is like half the reason this fic exist. Anyway, sorry to had you waiting so long, thoughts so far?


	18. Chilling

Me and Grace had been traveling for about two months now,   
There's been some pleasant times and some stressful ones. 

It took me almost a week to get her to stay still while we warped.   
Almost dissipated myself in panic that one time she managed to get her head outside the warping beam.

We visited a few places until we stumbled across this snowy area. The cold is pleasant, and there doesn't seem to be much activity around.  
And Grace liked it. First thing she did was throw herself face first on the snow and start rolling around it.  
I decided this was a good place to start testing her mental capacity and eventually help her expand it.

It took me just a couple of days to chop down some of the local trees and build us a small house. Nothing too elaborate, just some walls and roof so we don't have to worry about getting ambushed by wild fauna.

After many tests I concluded that Grace's hearing is in perfect condition, so is her sense of touch. (I basically poked her in different areas of her body at random intervals and she reacted every time. It also taught me to not poke the back of her knee unless I want a kick to the face).  
Her sight on the other hand, could do better.  
She can still see at a distance, but it seems things become less clear for her. (Once far enough, she could tell me apart from a tree, but could not see the difference between me and a similar sized rock.)  
Not to mention, her depth perception is slightly off. No wonder she kept tripping over uneven terrain.

When it came to teaching her, I wasn't sure how to exactly start. I didn't want to tame her or teach her commands like my organics, after all.

I figured the first thing that we needed was a form of communication. One that she could use.  
Spoken was out of the question, and so was hand signals.  
In the end, I settled for a sort of tapping/foot position system.  
It took a few days to properly come up with, and a few weeks to make her understand it.  
Nowadays she knows almost a hundred different "words" and "phrases".

I made sure to first teach her the essentials, such as "yes", "no", "stop", "continue", "me", "you", "want", "don't want", "this way" and many more.  
But her favorite was "sing". I really didn't expect her to like my humming so much.

We went through a lot together by now. I've learned a lot about Grace. And she has learned a lot about me.  
One of the first signs I had about how smart she really is, was when she realized I didn't like to be the one in front while we walked together.

I didn't even knew that.

Apparently I tense when there's someone walking behind me, so she started walking beside me when following me.   
If I had to guess, this was a left over instinct of my first few centuries in the wild. I got attacked from the back by predatory organics quite a few times before I learned to detect them.

It was... nice. To have someone know me like that.

-~w~-

After a couple more months, I was very happy with Grace's progress. I was also happy with Grace in general. I don't think I ever let myself relax so much near anyone before. Even with my organics I preferred to keep my distance when I had no need for them.  
But me and Grace has become pretty close. I had no idea I was so... touchy.

Every time someone else initiated physical contact with me I would either tense, move away, or accept it without reciprocation (only a few of my organics had earned enough trust from me for me to accept even as much).  
But Grace is just, constantly touching me. And I don't mind. Whenever I'm sitting down she almost always throws herself down to rest her head on my leg.  
I keep wondering how she could find that comfortable, so one time she was the one sitting down I just tried it.  
It was... nice. Not necessarily comfortable, but, comforting? If that makes any sense.

We almost always end up like that after one of Grace's study sessions. I made sure she understood the concept of "enough", so she could sign me when she didn't want to keep studying for the day.  
It depends on her mood, but I can usually give her lessons for about nine hours per day. Separated into sometimes one hour, sometimes longer, segments.

Currently she was laying on me, while I hummed one of her favorite songs and simultaneously carved a small figurine. The wood of these pointy trees was specially nice for carving.  
Our relaxation was interrupted by an unexpected beeping.  
It was coming from outside, from the warp pad's general direction.

We step outside to see the warp is glowing in time with the beeping, I've never seen it do that before.  
Suddenly a light emerges from the pad, but it doesn't look like a warping beam, it looks more like... A screen?  
Oh, it was like a holo screen. Warp pads could be used as such? Who knew.

The light beam became an image of the organic Steven, looking to the side while holding some rectangular device to his ear.

"-dot says it should be working now, did it- oh you can see me? Great! Thanks Amethyst talk to you later. Okay Amethyst just confirmed the little homeworld warp is transmitting so we should be all good. Hi To anyone watching this! Hopefully that includes Tanny."

Uh, seems Steven somehow turned the warps into a communication device to send me a message.

"So! I know it's been a couple of months, but If you are watching this, I was hopping you could drop by the temple, we could use your... help, with a situation here. And you know! So we can check how you are. Uh, yeah. So if we don't hear back from you for a few days I guess we can go look for you, just to make sure nothing bad happened? Man I wish Pearl had come up with the idea of teaching gems about phones earlier." 

Weird, I remembered Steven more... Animated? Perhaps he was tired.

"Yeah. Oh also, if you are not Tanny, then just ignore this message. You did get this transmission to work only on earth warps right Peridot? Because if not then there's gonna be a lot of confused gems through the galaxy-"

The message came to an abrupt end, apparently the transmission couldn't hold for too long.  
Still, turning every earth warp pad into a communication device was pretty clever. Steven mentioned a peridot, I wonder how she managed to connect all pads like that.

Now... Do I go back?  
I mostly left in such an abrupt way due to my failed fusion with Pearl.  
It truly felt horrible, Steven was right about first fusions feeling overbearing.

But now... I have to think about Grace.

It seems she got bored halfway through the message and went to play in the snow.  
A change of scenery and more gems to interact with could be good for her.   
More stimuli.

Might as well.

"Grace, get up. We are going to warp."

I really hope she keeps her head inside the beam this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry it took me so long to update x_X. you know when when yo write part 1, then come up with the perfect idea for part 3, but have NO idea how to make part 2 to connect them properly? yeah dat happened.
> 
> but yeh, hopefully you guys still enjoying this!  
> also, im trying to keep my chapters to around 1k words, but they feel really short x_X do you think this length is ok? or should i take a tad longer and upload longer chapters?


	19. Welcome back

Not long after sending the message, a mixed group of two humans and various gems exited the beach house.

"You think she saw it?"  
"Hopefully-"  
"Of course she did! I connected the transmission to every single functional pad on earth." A short green gem proclaimed proudly and loudly, Steven smiled fondly but not without slight exasperation.

Pearl was the one to clarify Connie's worry to Peridot.

"Yes you did Peridot, but I think Connie meant that there's no guarantee that Tanny was near a pad to see the message at the time."  
"Oh. Well if she didn't we can always just put the message on loop. That's what I did when I was trying to escape earth, remember?"

Steven can't help the grimace that flashes across his expression. Looping messages didn't had the best of records.

"No it's ok, that would be too distracting to anyone needing to use the warps, if Tanny doesn't show up in a couple of hours then we'll resend it, and if she still doesn't show up we can go search for her, to make sure she's okay."

The group reached the sand below the stairs, and continued to move further away from the house.

"I'll be going then, Greg and Vidalia are going to teach me to play poker! Apparently there's both strategy and math involved, so it should be quite entertaining."

Steven could already imagine how much trouble his dad was going to have trying to explain bluffing to Pearl. Not to mention she didn't really had a poker face, unlike Garnet, who by now was pretty much banned from all card games. Well, it was less for her pokerface and more for her future vision, but still.

Steven was glad Pearl was going to spend the rest of the day with his dad. Both because he was happy at how much their friendship grew these past years, and because that meant that Pearl was going to be there in case of another emergency. With Amethyst near little homeworld and Garnet patrolling the outskirts of the town, they had a Crystal Gem near to almost any potential attack zone.

Hopefully that will help to reduce some of the damage next time.

"Thanks for coming to help Peridot, Pearl"

"Yes, of course I could have done it myself, but your help was appreciated none the less."

"Peridot you almost rigged every warp pad on earth to explode."

"It's not my fault humans have such low quality power sources!! Sure they're aaaaall okay with irradiating their nutrient clumps in a metal box, but you try to experiment with uranium ONCE and suddenly 'it's too dangerous Peridot' I'm telling you, I could have been done in minutes with only some mildly radiation left over."

Pearl had to suppress the very Amethyst-like urge to roll her eyes, maybe she should apologize to Lapis later, because it seemed like Peridot was going to be ranting about this for the whole day.

Connie smiled amused at Peridot's antics, but it was short-lived once she looked at Steven.

"You sure you don't want to stay and wait for her? We can always do the city tour tomorrow."

Steven smile looked tired as he grabbed hold of Connie's hand. She wanted to smile at the contact but couldn't help but frown worriedly at his eyebags, a common sight nowadays.

"I'm sure, with how frantic things have been lately we haven't got much time to hang out. Besides, I'm pretty sure Tanny won't come right away."

"I hope she wasn't too busy..." A timid voice beside Peridot spoke. "I didn't want to bother her."

"Don't worry! I'm sure she will-"

The light of a warp beam inside the house interrupted Connie's reassurance.  
A few seconds later the door opened and out walked the tanzanite in question.

"Or she could take just a couple of minutes, hey Tanny down here!"

The newly arrived gem looked down at the group standing in the sand and, well, she didn't really smile. But her natural neutral expression didn't change into a frown, so that was as good sign as any.

Just as she was taking the first step down the stairs, something else came out the door, something weirdly colourful and tall enough that it had to duck to fit under the doorframe.

It's shape was bizarre, two legs, each one different, a mishap of light blue and almost neon orange, a single incredible long arm wrapped numerous times around it's torso, with small stripes of grey cloth trapped beneath it.  
The arm ended in a big hand that grabbed hold of it's head, of it's face.

Even if Steven haven't seen any for quite some time now, he knew exactly what if was.  
It was a fusion experiment.  
It was a fusion experiment standing right behind Tanny.

And it didn't look like she noticed it.

Crap, could it had followed Tanny through the warp? Could fusion experiments even warp?

Steven reacted in instinct, maybe if he had stopped to think just how unlikely was for something to warp behind Tanny without her noticing was, he wouldn't just jumped in.

And jump in he did, shield summoned. His plan was to get between Tanny and the fusion experiment and wrap her and himself in a protective bubble.

Too bad the fusion experiment was much faster than he anticipated.

With a loud CLANG it's stump ending leg collided with his shield.  
It was strong, with solid footing Steven was sure he could have pushed back, but being in midair he just got violently launched back into the sand below.

SHINK

The purple knife burrowed in the sand mere centimeters away from Steven's face wasn't what stopped him from getting up right away.

It was Tanny's glare.

When they first met her and she had the other, smaller tanzanite pinned under her foot, Tanny had a look of extreme cold indifference. The kind that says "I couldn't care less about what happens to you." But now, now she looked downright _murderous_.  
Her lips pressed into a thin line, her hands not as fists, but instead tense in a talon like position that made her clawed fingers all the more prominent, her gem glowing, with half a new knife already emerging from it.  
Her eyes unblinking, focused solely on Steven.

She took a single step down the stairs, which was promptly mimicked by the fusion experiment behind her, but it seems her one foot was slightly too long to properly fit in the steps.  
As soon as she stumbled, Tanny turned away from Steven to hold her steady. With a hand gently holding part of the coiled arm, Tanny carefully and patiently guided her down the stairs.  
The experiment had to almost crouch to let Tanny guide her. Her legs were slightly shaky, and she tripped about three times before they both reached the bottom.  
Once she was sure the experiment didn't look in risk of falling over, Tanny returned her attention to Steven.

Her glare had cooled down slightly, but only so.

"Do you want to know something I learned on my planet, Steven?"

Now her voice sounded much more like that cold indifference Steven remembered.

"I learned that any problem can be solved if I stab it enough times."

With a small shower of sparkles the knife next to Steven's face dissipated, as if to remind him of it's proximity.

"And if you or any of your friends attacks Grace again..."

She vaguely gestures to Pearl, spear in hand and ready to jump into action, but cautiously waiting.

"It's going. To be. A _problem_. Understand?"

Before Steven could reply, a small, awestruck voice broke the tense silence.

"So cool..."

Confused, Tanny turned towards the other people in the beach. At first she thought the voice had come from the nervous looking peridot, but now she could see a small yellow gem pretty much hiding behind her.

A familiar small yellow gem.

She was one of the other stranded tanzanites, the one with her gem on her chest.   
She remembers her as the less annoying one, but couldn't remember her cut.  
Nor the name Steven assigned her.  
Tanny was bad at remembering things she didn't particularly had an use for or considered important.

The fusion experiment now know as Grace choose that moment to fall face first into the sand and start rolling around it.

She seemed to enjoy it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaa I'm so sorry for how long this took x_X  
> Didn't had much time to write, but cuz I spend two weeks in Japan! I loved it so much, but vacations are over and I'm back at work.
> 
> But yeah, hopefully you'll like the chapter! Comments are always welcome!


	20. A B C Debrief

While Tanny stared at the smaller tanzanite trying to remember her name, Connie spoke.

"It's your, uh, friend okay?"

Tanny barely spared Grace a glance, knowing her to be fine.

"Yes. She likes to do this when finding a new textures she feels pleasant. Can't blame her, I basically did the same the first time I've encountered sand in my planet."

Tanny's foot pressed down on the sand, her clawed toes wriggling.  
Sand was such a fascinating material, it felt like a dry liquid one couldn't sink into.  
Well, not easily at least.  
It seemed Grace was satisfied for the moment, she stopped rolling around and dragged herself like a caterpillar towards Tanny, resting her head against her leg.  
The others seemed wary of Grace and any movement she made, specially the peridot.

Steven tried to get everything back on track. 

"Right. We, um, we'll talk about the fu- about Grace later. Anyway looks who's here!"

Steven used both arms to quite unnecessarily point out the smaller tanzanite.

"Candy here asked if she could pay you a visit! And we sorta were thinking about getting you to help with, um, a problem anyway."

Tanny stared at Candy (there was no chance of her remembering that name on her own, so she was glad Steven mentioned it) not really knowing what to feel. She really couldn't think of a reason the smaller tanzanite would want to visit her.  
She looked just as she remembered, except...

"Um, hi 2F1R, um, oh sorry, I guess you go by Tanny now? Right, I-"

"You changed your hair."

She was as short as before, her yellowish complexion and her uniform unchanged, but her shoulder length hair was now tied in a small ponytail.  
Like hers.  
The little gem's entire face turned an almost orange brown color, her blush noticeable even after she tried to cover her face with her hands.

"I just, um, thought it wouldlooknice?"

Her words mushed together in a barely audible mumble by the end of the sentence.

"It's practical. It won't get in your eyes or mouth like that."

By the way Candy seemed to glow with the comment, one would think Tanny just called her the prettiest gem in the galaxy, instead of just stating a fact about her new haircut.  
Grace seemed to take an interest in the smaller tanzanite as well, following her with her gaze.  
The fusion experiment wobbly got on her feet, foot, for some reason Tanny gave her a very faint smile once she was standing again. It seemed... proud almost.  
She took a single step forward, enough to stand right in front of Candy, who looked minuscule next to her, and crouched down so her hidden face ended up just a few centimeters away from the now petrified yellow gem.

"Um..."

Candy's voice was slightly shakier than usual.  
She flinched almost violently when Grace suddenly headbutted her, and though it was honestly just a tap with no strength behind it, it was enough to make the small gem plop down on the sand.

"She likes you."

Candy seemed both relieved and terrified by that statement.  
Tanny turned towards Steven.

"You keep mentioning a problem."

Pearl and Steven shared a wary glance.

"Yeah, remember when I told you how most gems back on earth got corrupted? We healed most of them but from time to time we stumble across a remaining one and have to poof them so we can heal them."

Tanny did not looked interested so far. Mostly because none of that was new information for her.

"But lately, for around a month now there's been some, I don't know, coordinated attacks? We thought they were just random appearances at first but last week a group of five corrupted gems attacked little homeworld at once. We never really seen corrupted gems cooperate like that."  
"They almost acted like your pets..."

Connie added.  
A blink.

"You think I'm the one coordinating the attacks."

"Wha-!"  
"No!"  
"We didn't even consid-!"  
"Yes."  
"Peridot!"

If their completely perplexed and baffled looks were sincere, they actually didn't even though that Tanny could be the one behind those attacks.  
Meanwhile Grace stood straight again, or as straight as she usually stood, to look at her surroundings. She seemed curious.

"What?! You told me about a gem that could tame wild animals and that we needed a way to call her back here! Why else would we do that if not because we think she's behind it!"

"That's not at all what we- _huff_ \- listen Tanny, we wanted you back because we want your help. None of us have any experience when it comes to animal like behavior, but you clearly do. We were hoping you could help us track these attacks back to it's source so we can stop them."

Another blink.

"Okay."  
"Oh, really? I mean, great!"  
"Corrupted gems where in my list of things to research more of, might as well do it now."  
"Perfect! We can fill you in with the details of the attacks and the gems, and perhaps you could fill us in what you've been doing this last few months?"

Pearl's not so subtle glance towards Grace was a pretty sound indication of what they wanted to hear about.  
Tanny wasn't sure what they expected to hear. All she did was visit the kindergarten, find the off mold, realize they were actually fusion experiments, meet Grace, decide to teach Grace, and moved them both to a better location to do so.  
Uh, compared to a few decades ago were she once stood in place observing a sapling grown for about two years, she's really been more active since getting to earth.  
But before she could voice any of her thoughts, Grace headbutted her in that particular way that meant "pay attention."  
Once Tanny's focus was sorely on Grace, she took a step backwards to put some distance between them, and tapped once her stump with the side of her foot.

"I."

Then she gave two quick stomps again with her foot, a pause, then lifted her foot so the pointy end was aimed at Tanny.

"Want, you."

The others looked confused at Tanny's words and Grace's actions, except Connie, who looked both surprised and exited.  
Grace fidgeted in place, now less sure of her movements.  
Peridot opened her mouth to question them, but Connie shushed her.

Now with her heel firmly planted on the sand, Grace pivoted her foot left and right a couple of times.

"Look."

More fidgeting, now Grace started to look frustrated.  
Tanny's voice and expression turned softer, not an ounce of impatience in her.

"Remember, if you can't think of a word that fits with what you are trying to say, split it into familiar ones. Start over."

After a few seconds to put her thoughts together, Grace did so.

A tap to the side of her stump, two quick stamps, foot raised to point at Tanny, tap to the stump again, down again to pivot from side to side.

"I, want, you, I, look."

Grace mover her foot about a step forward, pressed it down and dragged it back to herself. Then raised it again, pressed it down once more and dragged it this time away from her. She repeated the process one more time.

"Here, there, here, there."

Pivot from side to side one more time.

"Look."

Grace now stayed still, staring intensely at Tanny.

"I, want, you, I, look, here, there, here, there, look."

After a beat of silence, Tanny easily pieced the sentence together.

"You want us both to go explore this new area?"

Grace nodded multiple times.

"That's incredible! You taught her sign language? How did you even-"

Tanny interrupted Connie with a raised palm, her head tilted upwards as she seemed to mutter to herself at a fast pace. After a few seconds of this, she looked straight at Grace, and called her in a clear voice.

"Grace."

Once she was sure the fusion experiment's attention was sorely on her, she began.

She stood straight, lifting her right foot and planted it in the sand about one step of distance to her right, perpendicular to her other foot.  
Then she dragged it in a half circle path from right to left, until it ended in front of her left one, heel pressed against toes.

"Explore."

She said in a loud and clear voice. She repeated the gesture three more times, saying the word each time.  
Grace imitated the movement, and repeated it a few times at Tanny's urging, until she was satisfied she had learned it.

"Good. And we'll go exploring soon. And yes, I did taught her a sing language, we needed to be able to properly communicate."   
"I didn't even... i mean, that's great, Tanny."

There it was again, Tanny thought, Steven definitely sounded different now, less enthusiastic, more tired.  
And she was positive he didn't had those eyebags last time she saw him.

"Oh I have an idea! we were going to show Candy around until you came back, but if Grace wants to go explore you three could do it together!"  
"But Connie we were going to-"  
"AND that way we can go hang out like we planned, perfect!"

while interrupting Steven, Connie gave Pearl a look, subtly gesturing to his friend's tired appearance, they both know Steven could use a day of just relaxing.

"What a wonderful idea Connie! in fact, here."

With an elegant flourish, Pearl produced a phone from her gemstone.

"I made sure to stock a few extra cellular phones just in case, hold onto this Tanny, and if there's any attack or new information on these corrupted gems, we'll give you a call. Now off you three go, there's a lot to explore!"

With Pearl pushing Tanny in one direction and Connie dragging a slightly protesting Steven in the other, it seems they didn't had much choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorta important, so please read to avoid confusion!
> 
> okay so, all of my original characters and most of the plot for this story, i actually had them floating around in my head before Future aired, and i was thinking i was going to have some changes to include what happened in Future, but for the moment, THIS FIC WILL IGNORE SOME ASPPECTS OF WHAT HAPPENED IN STEVEN UNIVERSE FUTURE, specially the diamonds new powers, so until further notice have that in mind!
> 
> \---
> 
> i cannot believe i wrote so much of this fic. 20 chapters. 20 chapters AND IM STILL GOING  
> over 31.000 words, im so ridiculously proud of myself.
> 
> as always, comments are highly appreciated! if you have any questions or doubts or just wanna tell me about a part you liked!


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